nocturne

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

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

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

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.

• diurne

• nocturnist
• nocturnal
• diurnal
• crepuscular

• aubade

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

Learned borrowing from Latin nocturnus.

• IPA^(key): /nɔk.tyʁn/

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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

• énurésie nocturne
• tapage nocturne

• → Romanian: nocturn

nocturne m (plural nocturnes)

1. (music) nocturne

• → English: nocturne

nocturne f (plural nocturnes)

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

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

• reconnut, reconnût

nocturne (comparative plus nocturne, superlative le plus nocturne)

1. nocturnal

nocturne

1. vocative masculine singular of nocturnus

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

nocturne (plural nocturns)

1. (Christianity) nocturn

• English: nocturn

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