Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Nocturne |
NocturneNoun1. A pensive lyrical piece of music (especially for the piano). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "nocturne" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1869. (references) |
Etymology: Nocturne \Noc*turne"\, noun. [French expression See Nocturn.]. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A nocturne (from the French for "nocturnal") is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of the night.The name nocturne was first applied to pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an emsemble piece in several movements. Sometimes it carried the Italian language equivalent of nocturne, notturna, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Serenata Notturna being one example. At this time, the piece was not necessarily evocative of the night, but might merely be intended for performance at night, much like a serenade.
In its more familiar form as a single-movement character piece usually written for solo piano, the nocturne was cultivated primarily in the 19th century. The first nocturnes to be written as such were by John Field, but the most famous exponent of the form was Frederic Chopin, who wrote 21 of them. Later composers to write nocturnes for the piano include Gabriel Fauré and Erik Satie.
Other examples of nocturnes include the one for orchestra from Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream and the set of three for orchestra and female choir by Claude Debussy (who also wrote one for solo piano).
The first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata has also been considered a nocturne (certainly, Ludwig Rellstab, who gave the piece its nickname, thought it evocative of the night), although Beethoven did not describe it as one.
Nocturnes are generally thought of as being tranquil, often expressive and lyrical, and sometimes rather gloomy, but in practice pieces with the name nocturne have conveyed a variety of moods: the second of Debussy's orchestral Nocturnes, "Fêtes", for example, is very lively.
The word was later used by James McNeill Whistler in the title of a number of his paintings. A number of other artists followed suit.
See also: Nocturne (album), an album by Siouxsie and the Banshees
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Nocturne."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Nocturne is a live audio tape and video tape release of Siouxsie & The Banshies Gothic rock material, featuring Robert Smith (of The Cure) on guitar.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Nocturne (album)."
Crosswords: Nocturne |
| English words defined with "nocturne": close ♦ Notturno. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "nocturne": Nocturn. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Nocturne" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. French (nocturnal, nocturnally, nocturne), German (nocturne), Swedish (nocturne). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Nocturne (1954) Tapage nocturne (1951) Nocturne (1950) Attaque nocturne (1931) Nocturne (1927) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Nocturne in Bruges. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Hong Kong - 2" by Michele Falzone Commentary: "Hongkong Bank of China Tower - Nocturne Shot." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| "Nocturne" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 51.72% of the time. "Nocturne" is used about 29 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 51.72% | 15 | 90,616 |
| Noun (proper) | 48.28% | 14 | 93,893 |
| Total | 100.00% | 29 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "nocturne"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | nikturn, skenë nate. (various references) | |
Arabic | المقطوعة الحالمة. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | нощна служба, нощен пейзаж (night-piece), ноктюрно. (various references) | |
Czech | serenáda (Charivari, serenade). (various references) | |
French | nocturne (nocturnal, nocturnally). (various references) | |
German | nocturne, Nachtstück. (various references) | |
Greek | νυκτωδία (serenade), νυχτερινό, νυχτερινή σκηνή, εικών νυκτόσ. (various references) | |
Hungarian | nocturno. (various references) | |
Italian | notturno (night, nocturnal, nocturnally). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | ノイマン型 (christmas, fungo, Hague, heart, Hercules, hook, knob, knock, knockdown, knocker, knocking, knock-on, knockout, knot, know, know-how, knowledge, nautical mile per hour, Neumann-type, neuron, neurosis, no, noctovision, nominal, nominal price, nominate, nomination, nomogram, nomograph, non career, non cling, non store retailing, non troppo, non-attachment disease, nonbank banking, nonbook, nonchalant, non-conforming design, nonfiction, nonius, nonpolitical, non-professional, nonrun, non-sectarian, nonsense, nonslip, nonstop, non-terminal, nontitle match, non-verbal, non-verbal communication, Noraism, Nordic, Norma, Normandy, Norway, nostalgia, nostalgic, nostalgie, notation, notch, notchback, notch-filter, nova, Nova Scotia, novel, novelty, nozzle, number, swastika, unaffiliated, vernier calipers, vernier micrometer), 夜想曲 , 夜曲 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ノクターン , やそうきょく, やきょく. (various references) | |
Manx | arrane oie. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | octurnenay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | noturno (nightly, nocturnal, overnight). (various references) | |
Romanian | nocturnã. (various references) | |
Russian | ноктюрн. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | nokturno, slika noći. (various references) | |
Spanish | nocturno (night, nightly, nocturnal, nocturnally). (various references) | |
Swedish | nocturne. (various references) | |
Turkish | gece manzarası, gece müziği, duygulu melodi. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | нічна сцена, ноктюрн (night-piece, nocturn). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "nocturne": nocturnes. (additional references) | |
| |
"Nocturne" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: nocture, nocturna, nocturno, nocturnum, noscitur, nosturns, Nugteren, Nzctu. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-n-n-o-r-t-u" | |
-1 letter: cornute, counter, neutron, nocturn, recount, trounce. | |
-2 letters: conner, cornet, couter, cunner, neuron, nocent, tenour, tonner, turnon, unrent, untorn. | |
-3 letters: cento, centu, conte, cornu, count, court, crone, cruet, curet, cuter, eruct, nonce, nonet, noter, ounce, outer, outre, recon, recto, recut, rouen, route, tenon, tenor, toner, tonne, trone, truce, tuner. | |
-4 letters: cent, cero, cone, conn, core. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-n-n-o-r-t-u" | |
+1 letter: centurion, congruent, continuer, encounter, neutronic, nocturnes, truncheon. | |
+2 letters: centurions, concurrent, continuers, countering, counterion, counterman, countermen, countrymen, encounters, enunciator, noncurrent, recounting, rencounter, truncheons, undercount, unneurotic. | |
+3 letters: concurrents, congruently, conjuncture, counterions, countermand, countermine, counterpane, counterplan, countersign, countersink, countersunk, crenulation, encountered, enunciators, incongruent, intercounty, internuncio, noncomputer, noncustomer, reencounter, rencounters, truncheoned, uncontrived, unconverted, undercounts. | |
+4 letters: anticonsumer, cantankerous, concurrently, conjecturing, conjunctures, conterminous, countenancer, counteragent, countermands, countermined, countermines, counterpanes, counterplans, counterpoint, counterpunch, countersigns, countersinks, counterstain, countersuing, countertenor, countertrend, countrywomen, crenulations, denunciatory, encountering, encrustation, insurrection, intercountry, internucleon, internuncios, nomenclature, noncongruent, noncountries, noncustomers, nonrecurrent, overcounting, preinduction, recontouring, reencounters, rencountered, renouncement, renunciation, renunciatory, reunionistic, truncheoning, uncontracted, uncontrolled, undercoating, undercounted, unimportance. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Anagrams | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
