"
The Barcarolle is a nocturne painted on a large canvas, with
larger brushes. It has Italian color in spots--Schumann said
that, melodically, Chopin sometimes "leans over Germany into
Italy"--and is a masterly one in sentiment, pulsating with
amorousness. To me it sounds like a lament for the splendors, now
vanished, of Venice the Queen. In bars 8, 9, and 10, counting
backward, Louis Ehlert finds obscurities in the middle voices. It
is dedicated to the Baronne de Stockhausen.
The nocturnes--including the Berceuse and Barcarolle--should
seldom be played in public and not the public of a large hall.
Something of Chopin's delicate, tender warmth and spiritual voice
is lost in larger spaces. In a small auditorium, and from the
fingers of a sympathetic pianist, the nocturnes should be heard,
that their intimate, night side may be revealed. Many are like
the music en sourdine of Paul Verlaine in his "Chanson D'Automne"
or "Le Piano que Baise une Main Frele." They are essentially for
the twilight, for solitary enclosures, where their still,
mysterious tones--"silent thunder in the leaves" as Yeats sings--
become eloquent and disclose the poetry and pain of their
creator.
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