Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27 No. 2
The nocturne that made Chopin's salon audiences fall silent.
The two Nocturnes of Op. 27, published in 1835 and dedicated to Countess d'Apponyi, mark the peak of Chopin's early nocturne style. The second, in D-flat major, is among the most beloved pieces he wrote: a long, ornately decorated melody in 12/8 flows over a gently rocking accompaniment, embellished with trills and turns that evolve with each repetition of the theme, growing more elaborate and more impassioned as the piece progresses.
Chopin performed it frequently in the intimate Paris salons where he built his reputation as both composer and pianist. Unlike Liszt, who courted large concert halls, Chopin preferred audiences of thirty or forty people gathered around a single candle; Op. 27 No. 2 was written for exactly that intimacy. The closing bars, with their parallel sixths in both hands ascending to a final D-flat major chord, were reported to silence rooms completely.
Learn the skeleton before adding the ornaments.
Play through the melody removing all trills and turns first - just the main notes. Once the phrase shapes and dynamics are learned in their simplest form, add the ornaments one at a time, listening for each one to sound like a natural flowering of the melody rather than an interruption of it.
MIDI based on the Mutopia Project edition , licensed Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0.
Before you practice.
01 What makes Chopin's Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 special?
Its two-voice texture is unique: rather than a singing right-hand melody over an arpeggio accompaniment (the standard nocturne formula), Chopin writes two independent melodic lines that develop separately and gradually converge, creating a rare sense of emotional dialogue.
02 Is the Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 harder than the Op. 9 nocturnes?
Generally yes. The two-voice counterpoint demands more hand independence than the accompaniment-plus-melody texture of most Op. 9 nocturnes, and the long phrase arcs in D-flat major (a key with five flats) require sustained tonal control across the full 77 bars.
The ornaments must feel inevitable, not decorative.
At 50% tempo, play the skeleton melody and shape the phrases with a singing tone - no ornaments yet. At 70%, add one ornament per phrase and use wait-for-note mode to ensure the decorated note arrives in time. The parallel sixths in the closing bars should be played with even weight in both hands; loop them at 80% until they balance naturally before moving to full tempo.
