nocturne

English

WOTD – 1 March 2016

Nocturne: Blue and Silver – Chelsea (1871) by James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Etymology

Borrowed from French nocturne (literally “nocturnal”), from Latin nocturnus. Doublet of notturno.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnɒktɜːn/, /(ˌ)nɒkˈtɜːn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) enPR: nŏkʹtûrn', nŏkʹtərn, IPA^(key): /ˈnɑkˌtɝn/, /ˈnɑktɚn/
• Rhymes: -ɒktɜː(ɹ)n, -ɒktə(ɹ)n, -ɜː(ɹ)n
• Hyphenation: noc‧turne

Noun

nocturne (plural nocturnes)

1. A work of art relating or dedicated to the night.
   • 1908, E[lizabeth] R[obins] Pennell with J[oseph] Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, London: W[illiam] Heinemann; Philadelphia, Pa.: J. B. Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

     He [James Abbott McNeill Whistler] was then asked for his definition of a Nocturne: “I have perhaps, meant rather to indicate an artistic interest alone in the work, divesting the picture from any outside sort of interest which might have been otherwise attached to it. It is an arrangement of line, form, and colour first, and I make use of any incident of it which shall bring about a symmetrical result. Among my works are some night pieces; and I have chosen the word Nocturne because it generalises and simplifies the whole set of them.”

   • 1996, Peter Wagner, “Oscar Wilde’s ‘Impression du matin’ – an Intermedial Reading”, in Icons – Texts – Iconotexts: Essays on Ekphrasis and Intermediality [European Cultures; 6], Berlin, New York, N.Y.: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 287:

     When John Ruskin, a sort of pope among the art critics of the time, was faced with [James Abbott McNeill] Whistler’s canvases at the opening exhibition of The Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, he was so outraged that he attacked Whistler in a review, charging him with wilful imposture for “flinging a pot of paint in the public's face.” It seems that Ruskin's main target was Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875).

2. (music) A dreamlike or pensive composition, usually for the piano.
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “My tastes,” he said, still smiling, “incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet.” And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: “I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I’d rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don’t like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […].”

   • 1999, John Rink, “‘Structural Momentum’ and Closure in Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2”, in Carl Schachter, Hedi Siegel, editors, Schenker Studies 2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 109:

     For all its grace, charm, and apparent simplicity, [Frédéric] Chopin’s Nocturne in E♭ major, Op. 9, No. 2, poses fundamental problems on close inspection. The fact that so many analyses of the piece – including those of Heinrich Schenker and Felix Salzer – fail to explain certain idiosyncratic aspects, in particular an unusual distribution of structural weight, gives some indication of the Nocturne’s complexities at a profound level.

   • 2004, Halina Goldberg, editor, The Age of Chopin: Interdisciplinary Inquiries, Bloomington, Indianapolis, In.: Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 222:

     The vocal nocturne, in other words, turns out to be no easier a genre to define than the piano nocturne. But its ambiguities are nevertheless helpful in making sense of those of the piano nocturne.

Antonyms

• diurne

Related terms

• nocturnist
• nocturnal
• diurnal
• crepuscular

Translations

a dreamlike or pensive composition

• Bulgarian: ноктюрно n (noktjurno)
• Carpathian Rusyn: нокту́рно n (noktúrno)
• Catalan: nocturn (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 夜曲 (zh) (yèqǔ)

• Finnish: nokturno (fi)
• French: nocturne (fr) m
• Galician: nocturno m
• German: Nachtstück n (art), Nocturne (de) f or n (music), Nokturne (de) f or n (music, rare)
• Greek: νυχτωδία (el) f (nychtodía)
• Ido: nokturno (io)
• Italian: notturno (it) m
• Japanese: 夜想曲 (ja) (やそうきょく, yasōkyoku), ノクターン (ja) (nokutān)
• Kazakh: ноктюрн (noktürn)
• Korean: 녹턴 (ko) (nokteon), 야상곡 (ko) (yasanggok)
• Kyrgyz: ноктюрн (noktyurn)
• Maori: whakatangipō
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: nocturne

• Polish: nokturn (pl) m
• Portuguese: noturno (pt) m
• Russian: ноктю́рн (ru) m (noktjúrn)
• Serbo-Croatian: ноктурно m (nokturno)
• Spanish: nocturno (es) m
• Swedish: nocturne (sv) c
• Turkish: noktürn (tr)

See also

• aubade

References

• “nocturne”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin nocturnus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɔk.tyʁn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland):

  (file)

Adjective

nocturne (plural nocturnes)

1. nocturnal
   • 1857, Charles Baudelaire, Je t'adore from Les Fleurs du mal

     Je t’adore à l’égal de la voûte nocturne,
     Ô vase de tristesse, ô grande taciturne

     I love you as I love the night sky,
     O vase of sadness, O great silent one

   Antonym: diurne

2. (relational) night

Derived terms

• énurésie nocturne
• tapage nocturne

Descendants

• → Romanian: nocturn

Noun

nocturne m (plural nocturnes)

1. (music) nocturne

Descendants

• → English: nocturne

Noun

nocturne f (plural nocturnes)

1. opening hours at night
2. match of sport at night

Further reading

• “nocturne”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• reconnut, reconnût

Interlingua

Adjective

nocturne (comparative plus nocturne, superlative le plus nocturne)

1. nocturnal

Latin

Adjective

nocturne

1. vocative masculine singular of nocturnus

Middle English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin nocturna, noun use of the feminine form of Latin nocturnus (“nocturnal, of the night”), derived from nox (“night”).

Noun

nocturne (plural nocturns)

1. (Christianity) nocturn

Descendants

• English: nocturn

References

• “nocturne, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.