Notturno is a redirect to this article. For other meanings, see Notturno (disambiguation).
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No evidence is given for the description and little for the examples --Babarr (discussion) 10:24, 11 Nov 2017 (CET)
The nocturne (also: "the") or nocturne (literally: "becoming night", usually: "nocturnal") is a musical form that originated in the Baroque period and is not fixed in its instrumentation and movement structure. During this period, the term nocturne overlapped with serenade. Nocturnes established themselves as entertainment music at princely houses and were primarily instrumental, but could also contain vocal elements.
In today's perception, however, the nocturne is primarily associated with character pieces for piano composed during the Romantic period, the inventor of which is the Irish composer John Field. Frédéric Chopin's 21 Nocturnes, which rarely correspond to the image of the nocturne as a rather slow and quiet piano piece valid at that time, but rather unfold a great variety of expressive possibilities, have gained special significance. The likewise very popular Liebesträume by Franz Liszt correspond more closely to these ideas, although they require a high degree of technical skill on the part of the performer.
Nocturnes for piano were also composed by Alexander Scriabin (under the strong influence of Chopin), Erik Satie, Gabriel Fauré and Sergei Rachmaninoff, among others.
Claude Debussy composed nocturnes for orchestra and choir again in Impressionism. Billy Joel used the nocturne in popular music.
Volker David Kirchner wrote a concert piece for viola and orchestra with the German expression for nocturne in the title: Nachtstück (variations on a Wagnerian chordal connection).
