The start of the piece...
Claudio Arrau (Philips, 1978)
Listen to the first few lines of this piece for solo piano, composed by Fryderyk Chopin (1810 - 1849). It is now very well known all over the world, but this was never Chopin's intention.
Chances are, you know of this piece as none other than Chopin's 20th Nocturne, in C-sharp minor. That is the way in which it has been listed, after all, in many printed editions and in many catalogues of recordings over the years.
In fact the story behind the creation and subsequent life of this piece is more complex and intriguing than that simple, fabricated title suggests. Chopin never gave it the title Nocturne, nor did he ever intend it to be published.
Chopin's portrait
Painting by Teofil Kwiatkowski
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Fryderyk Chopin was a perfectionist who slaved over his composition manuscripts, generally taking a long time and many corrections to arrive at what we now know as the final, published works. It was relatively easy for him to improvise at the piano; but quite laborious to write down and perfect his ideas. At his deathbed in 1849, he expressed a wish that any unpublished manuscripts found in his drawers or elsewhere should be burned. He could not bear the thought of future generations knowing anything other than the pieces that he had expressly approved for publication.
Nevertheless, on a number of occasions in his short life he "gifted" a new manuscript to certain individuals, without ever sending it to a publisher. We may regard it as something of a miracle if any of these hand-written presents survived the ravages of time; indeed in many cases only copies, rather than the original autograph, are extant. It is important to note that such gift manuscripts were quite different from the many "dedications" written at the head of his published works. In the case of gifts, not only was the work in effect dedicated to the recipient, presumably Chopin simply never intended them to be seen by anyone else, let alone the wider public.
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On 2nd November 1830, when still only 20 years of age, Chopin left his native Poland for the very last time — although he had never thought he would become a permanent exile. He had just graduated from the music school with top honors, the headmaster Elsner describing him in the following simple terms: "special ability, musical genius". While still in Warsaw he had already composed and performed to great acclaim several pieces, including both piano concertos.
The principal reason for Chopin's departure from Poland was simply to seek better opportunities for his singular talents in the European musical and artistic hubs of Vienna, Paris, and perhaps even London. There was little more left that Warsaw could offer him.
Nov 1830 Warsaw Uprising
(Wikipedia)
Sep 1831 Russian Attack on Warsaw
(Wikipedia)
His first stop was Vienna, where he ended up staying about half a year — after that he moved on to Paris, where he lived essentially the rest of his life. Shortly after arriving in Vienna, accompanied by his friend Tytus, news broke out of the Warsaw Uprising: Polish army cadets had stormed Belvedere Palace in a failed attempt to assassinate Grand Duke Constantine; this triggered battles against the occupying Russian forces and led to much bloodshed and even greater oppression, the occupiers clamping down on resistance ever more tightly. Chopin read the daily news in utter despair. While Tytus immediately returned to Poland to join the fight, Chopin's frail physical constitution, and letters from home dissuading him from returning, allowed no such thoughts. At the same time he could not bear the thought of Russian soldiers raiding his family's home, where his mother and father and two sisters Ludwika (3 years his senior) and Izabella (1 year his junior) remained. He later wrote "I curse the moment of my departure [from Warsaw]" [1].
The situation in Warsaw remained tense for months, until finally the Russian attack of September 1831 broke the Polish resistance completely. Nevertheless, Chopin's anguish was meanwhile eased somewhat by correspondence letters with his family and friends, whereby he learned that at least they had been spared the worst of the violence. Still, he felt homesick and isolated in Vienna. Such feelings were poured into a number of compositions written during this period.
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The Kolberg copy — one of several copies.
The entire piece fits here on a single sheet of paper.
(chopinonline.ac.uk)
Believed to have been composed at about this period (circa 1830) is a work for piano which bears no title, only a hand-written direction:
"Lento, con gran espressione"
(meaning "Slow, with great expression")
He included a copy of this manuscript in a letter to his family, bearing the following inscription:
"For my sister Ludwika to play before she starts to practice my second concerto"
(i.e., the piano concerto in F minor)
Presumably, Ludwika kept this manuscript copy for the rest of her own short life. Years later in her own list of Chopin's compositions, Ludwika described the piece as a "Lento, with the character of a nocturne"; she appended a note "Sent to me from Vienna" [1].
Fast-forward several years... Chopin died of tuberculosis at age 39 in 1849, and Ludwika (who had travelled to Paris to be at her brother's deathbed) herself died six years later, in 1855. A copy manuscript of this piece was then "discovered" 20 years later, in 1875, by Chopin's first Polish biographer, who persuaded a publishing house in Poland to issue it under the generic title "Adagio"! Modern editions have fortunately prioritized Ludwika's description, and the piece is generally classified and printed together with the Nocturnes. In Poland the piece is sometimes known as the "Reminiscence Nocturne", not only in recognition of his state of mind from afar following the November Uprising in Warsaw, but also, as we shall see, owing to Chopin's remarkable self-quotations.
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Recalling Chopin's perfectionism, we must acknowledge that (at least in 1830) he never intended this piece to be seen by anyone other than his family, and sister Ludwika in particular. Throughout his short life he sent to the publishers exactly 18 Nocturnes. Another one he had composed as a teenager, was discovered and published posthumously (against his wishes), often appearing as Nocturne No.19 (in E min). Therefore, the Lento is often classified as Nocturne No.20, Op. posth. (meaning published after his death, with no Opus number). The authoritative Polish National Edition of Ekier et al. — these days the recommended reference for the International Chopin Piano Competition, held once every five years in Warsaw — has grouped the piece not at all together with the Nocturnes, but in one of the separate volumes dedicated to Chopin's posthumous pieces, without ever using the word Nocturne.
The first public performance of this piece was given in 1894 by the famous Russian (!) composer and pianist Mily Balakirev, upon the 45th anniversary of Chopin's death; specifically during celebrations around the unveiling of the obelisk erected outside Chopin's birthplace in Poland.
Under whatever title, the Lento is now beloved the world over, although it is only a very small utterance in the context of his entire output. Perhaps its simplicity — the very attribute that may have prevented him from publishing it — has helped along its popularity. In any case, how fortunate that subsequent generations chose to respectfully turn a blind eye on the composer's deathbed wish!
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Let us now move on to this "gift" piece itself. It is only 3 published (1 or 2 manuscript) pages, and takes only 4-5 minutes. Yet in this brief space and time, among Chopin's works its construction is unique, in that it contains a montage of musical autobiographical material [1]. After a brief introduction (bars 1-4) and the statement of the main theme (bars 5-20) in the home key C-sharp minor, there follows a sequence of no fewer than four self-quotations from Chopin's own earlier compositions — crucially, none of which had yet been published.
The first quotation (bars 21-22) comes from the start of the 3rd movement of his F minor piano concerto; it is essentially the same musical material, but transformed from its original lively dance-like rhythm, into a dreamy rendition. He also modified the key from the concerto's F minor, now to A major. Listen to the original (left) and the new piece (right)...
F min concerto,
start of 3rd mv.
Artur Rubinstein, LSO/Previn
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Lento, bars 21-22
Claudio Arrau
Lento, bars 25-26
Claudio Arrau
F min concerto,
middle of 1st mv.
Artur Rubinstein, LSO/Previn
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Lento, bars 23-24
Claudio Arrau
Lento, bars 27-28
Claudio Arrau
Immediately after that, the second quotation (bars 23-24) comes from the middle of the 1st movement of the same concerto. Then follows (in bars 25-26) the first quotation again, but this time in the relative minor key of F-sharp minor. And similarly, to round this off (in bars 27-28) again the second quotation but this time in C-sharp minor. He effectively recast his earlier material in the service of a newly inspired expression, while maintaining perfect musical sense and balance.
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Astonishingly without a pause this leads straight into his third quotation (bars 29-33), which comes from one of his songs "The Wish", originally for piano and soprano voice. Again, the character is modified from the original lively or playful love song, to a more dreamy rendition; but the harmonic and melodic contours are essentially the same.
Song "The Wish"
E.Szmytka (sop), M.Martineau (p)
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Lento, bars 29-33
Claudio Arrau
He then seamlessly transitions to the fourth quotation (bars 34-44), which comes from the so-called village dance section back in the 3rd movement of his F minor piano concerto. It is no small feat to put together this series of self-quotations from disparate sections of different pieces, directly one after another, while all the time creating a fresh and musically perfect whole.
F min concerto,
middle of 3rd mv.
Artur Rubinstein, LSO/Previn
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Lento, bars 34-44
Claudio Arrau
After that, the initial poignant theme is recapitulated, and followed by four pearly runs up and down the keyboard with the degree of intensity forming a perfect arc of emotional tension. The piece ends in tranquility, in the relative major key — a practice that was common a century earlier in the Baroque period, generally denoting the triumph of good over evil, of hope and optimism over sadness or grief.
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The story of the Lento is in fact a little more complicated than the simplified version presented above. Some six years after its initial composition, in 1836 Chopin asked his sister Ludwika to make a copy of it for inclusion in a portfolio of pieces intended for his then-fiancée Maria Wodzinska (the liaison never worked out); at which time he "regularized" [1] the notation of bars 21-22 and 25-26.
Originally he had written those sections in a bi-metrical polyrhythm, where the left hand accompaniment continues in 4/4 time while the right hand melody echoes exactly the theme from the concerto by fitting within the same two bars, four smaller bars in 3/4 time — quite daring and rare in 1830, with a dreamlike effect.
Lento (1830 version)
bars 21-22
Claudio Arrau
Lento (1836 version)
bars 21-22
Vladimir Ashkenazy
By comparison the regularized version (on the right) is simpler to play, as both hands are synchronized in 4/4 time; however this comes at the expense of a more conventional, angular rhythm.
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A further complication is that the autograph manuscript bearing a dedication to Ludwika has apparently disappeared, and is known only from copies and facsimiles. The autograph manuscript shown on the left above, is from a collection held by the Carthusian Monastery in Valldemossa on the isle of Majorca [5]. Apparently Chopin may have offered the manuscript also to one of his pupils, Princess Czartoryska.
Thus, the piece existed in more than one version — indeed, authoritative editions reproduce both known versions in print; and it was offered to at least three different recipients.
It is clear that Chopin never intended the Lento to be published for the general public, and probably regarded it as a kind of preparatory, albeit emotive, exercise piece.
With the utmost respect for the genius whose music continues to enrich the lives of so many, generation after generation, here is a complete recording of the earlier autograph version.
Lento con gran espressione (1830 version)
Parham Mokhtari, 30 March 2025
REFERENCES
[1] Alan Walker (2018) Fryderyk Chopin: a life and times
Picador (New York).
inCsharpMin_KolbergCopy.jpg)
