Nocturno elegíaco, Op. 26
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Publisher
- Musica Brasilis / Projeto Lorenzo Fernândez Digital (free edition, CC BY-SA; ISMN 979-0-802323-00-1), edited by Simonne Fonseca and Romeu Rabelo
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About this piece
Oscar Lorenzo Fernândez studied with Francisco Braga and Henrique Oswald at Rio de Janeiro's Instituto Nacional de Música, later taught there, and helped found the Conservatório Brasileiro de Música. He wrote this nocturne in memory of Frederico Nascimento, the teacher he had called 'my dear master' when dedicating his piano Noturno, Op. 3, to him in 1919. Newton Pádua (cello) and Ilara Gomes Grosso (piano) gave the first performance at the Instituto Nacional de Música on 26 April 1925. Over a rocking piano figure, the cello's lament climbs from tenor into treble clef, peaks at a fortissimo marked precipitando, and falls away in fast runs to a quiet, held close.
Technical overview
Andante moderato e espressivo (quarter = 84), mostly in 3/4, with bars of 5/4 and a calm section in common time. The cello moves among bass, tenor and treble clefs, reaching thumb position on the A string, with dense chromatic writing, triplets and long tied notes. The climax asks for a fortissimo precipitando followed by rapid quintuplet and sextuplet runs down across the strings.
Technical focus
- Accidentals
- Collaboration with Piano
- Dynamics
- Hairpin Dynamics
- Meter Changes
- Shifting
- Tempo Changes
- Tenor Clef
- Thumb Position
- Treble Clef
- Triplets