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History of the Piano
The pianos played by the composers of the Romantic era had evolved considerably from those played by Mozart and even Beethoven. The piano was founded on earlier technological innovations that date back to the Middle Ages. By the early Baroque there were two primary stringed keyboard instruments: the clavichord and the harpsichord.  Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731) of Padua, Italy is credited to as the inventor of the piano.  He  who was an expert harpsichord maker, and was well acquainted with the body of knowledge on stringed keyboard instruments. The clavichord allowed expressive control of the sound volume and sustain but was too quiet for large performances. The harpsichord produced a sufficiently loud sound, but had little expressive control over each note. These tonal differences were due to the mechanisms of the two instruments. In a clavichord the strings are struck by tangents, while in a harpsichord they are plucked by quills. The piano was probably formed as an attempt to combine loudness with control, avoiding the trade-offs of available instruments.

Cristofori’s great success was solving the fundamental mechanical problem of piano design: the hammer must strike the string, but not remain in contact with it The hammer must return to its rest position without bouncing violently, and it must be possible to repeat a note rapidly. With the Clavichord the tangent remains in contact with  the  string causing a dampening of  the sound.  Cristofori’s piano action was a model for the many approaches to piano actions that followed. His early instruments were made with thin strings, and were much quieter than the modern piano, but much louder and with more sustain in comparison to the clavichord.

Piano-making flourished in late 18th century Vienna. Viennese-style pianos were built with wood frames, two strings per note, and had leather-covered hammers. Some of these Viennese pianos had the opposite coloring of modern-day pianos; the natural keys were black and the accidental keys white. It was for such instruments that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his concertos and sonatas Replicas  are built today for use in authentic-instrument performances of his music. The pianos of Mozart’s day had a softer, more ethereal tone than today’s pianos, with less sustaining power. The term fortepiano is now used to distinguish the 18th-century instrument from later pianos.

In the period lasting from about 1790 to 1860, the Mozart-era piano underwent tremendous changes that led to the modern form of the instrument. This revolution was in response to a preference by composers and pianists for a more powerful, sustained piano sound, and made possible by the ongoing Industrial Revolution with resources such as high-quality piano wire for strings, and precision casting for the production of iron frames. Over time, the range of the piano was also increased from the five octaves  to the 7⅓ or more octaves found on modern pianos. Beethoven’s later piano works feature a wider range of pitches than earlier works as the instrument’s pitch range grew. To understand the impact of this expansion more clearly, a numeric illustration may be helpful. A five-octave piano would have roughly 60 keys, while today’s pianos generally feature 88.

By the late 19th century the piano had evolved into the powerful 88-key instrument we recognize today. It is important to remember that much of the music of the Classical era was composed for a type of instrument (the fortepiano) that is rather different from the instrument on which it is now played. Even the music of the Romantic period, including that of Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms, was written for pianos substantially different from modern pianos.   Frederic Chopin’s compositional output though relatively small  had an enormous influence on piano music. All his music featured the piano in one capacity or another.

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Figure 1. Photograph of Chopin by Bisson, c. 1849

Frédéric François Chopin (22 February or 1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849), born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era.  He gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his era, whose “poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation.” Chopin was born in what was then the Duchy of Warsaw, and grew up in Warsaw, which after 1815 became part of Congress Poland. A child prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed many of his works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising.

At the age of 21 he settled in Paris. Thereafter, during the last 18 years of his life, he gave only some 30 public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon. He supported himself by selling his compositions and teaching piano, for which he was in high demand. Chopin formed a friendship with Franz Liszt and was admired by many of his musical contemporaries, including Robert Schumann. In 1835 he obtained French citizenship. He maintained an often troubled relationship with the French writer George Sand.  In his last years, he was financially supported by his admirer Jane Stirling, who also arranged for him to visit Scotland in 1848. Through most of his life, Chopin suffered from poor health. He died in Paris in 1849, probably of tuberculosis.

All of Chopin’s compositions include the piano. Most are for solo piano, though he also wrote two piano concertos, a few chamber pieces, and some songs to Polish lyrics. His keyboard style is highly individual and often technically demanding; his own performances were noted for their nuance and sensitivity. Chopin invented the concept of instrumental ballade. His major piano works also include sonatas, mazurkas, waltzes,nocturnes, polonaises, études, impromptus, scherzos, and preludes, some published only after his death. Many contain elements of both Polishfolk music and of the classical tradition of J. S. Bach, Mozart and Schubert, the music of all of whom he admired. His innovations in style,musical form, and harmony, and his association of music with nationalism, were influential throughout and after the late Romantic period.

Both in his native Poland and beyond, Chopin’s music, his status as one of music’s earliest superstars, his association (if only indirect) with political insurrection, his love life and his early death have made him, in the public consciousness, a leading symbol of the Romantic era. His works remain popular, and he has been the subject of numerous films and biographies of varying degrees of historical accuracy.

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Character piece is a a term, not very precisely defined, used for a broad range of 19th century piano music based on a single idea or program.  Character pieces are a staple of Romantic music, and are essential to that movement’s interest in the evocation of particular  moods or moments. What distinguishes character pieces is the specificity of the idea they invoke  such as a mood or scene .  A common feature is a title expressive of the character intended. Many character pieces are composed in ternary form, but that form is not universal in the genre. Character pieces have titles suggesting brevity and singularity of concept, such as Beethoven’s Bagatelles, or Debussy’s Préludes, The title Impromptu is common. Many 19th century nocturnes and intermezzi are character pieces as well, including those of Chopin and Brahms, respectively. Read the short article in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_piece
Chopin  contributed much to this genre. Check  the Power point  slldes 14-20  at   https://courses.lumenlearning.com/vccs-tcc-music-rford/wp-admin/post.php?post=1354&action=edit  .  Read especially slide 20 re the rubato a significant performing technique for which Chopin  (and others) are very well known.

Large sets of many individual character pieces, intended to be played as a single piece of music, were not uncommon; Schumann’s many works of this form (including Kreisleriana and Carnaval) are the best known examples. In the late 19th and twentieth centuries, as piano music became ambitious and larger in scale and  the scope of what a character piece could reference grew as well.

Chopin’ Nocturns
Before we dive into this nocturne, let’s get a little background on the genre itself. Here is a quote from the Wikipedia article on the musical genre Nocturne:

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 under the specific title were by the Irish composer John Field, generally viewed as the father of the Romantic nocturne that characteristically features a cantabile (songlike) melody over an arpeggiated, even guitar-like accompaniment. However, the most famous exponent of the form was Frédéric Chopin, who wrote 21 of them.

Nocturnes, as the name suggests, generally exhibit a brooding or melancholy mood. There is relatively little to read on this page, and the first of the two paragraphs is more informative for our purposes as it focuses on musical elements such as tempo and form rather than on critical opinion.

Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 1
Chopin’s  Nocturne in C-sharp minor is initially marked larghetto and is in 4/4 meter then transitions to più mosso . The piece returns to its original tempo and ends in an adagio beginning.  The piece is 101 measures long and written in ternary form with coda; the primary theme is introduced, followed by a secondary theme and a repetition of the first.  James Huneker commented that the piece is “a masterpiece,” pointing to the “morbid, persistent melody” of the left hand.  The coda “reminds the listener of Chopin’s seemingly inexhaustible prodigality”  – a “surprising climax followed by sunshine” before returning to the opening theme. This is an excellent example if a character piece. Note especially the very expressive playing . In particular note the use of  rubato – a gradual ebb and flow in tempo giving the work added expressive dimension.

Concert Etude  – Revolutionary Etude
The concert etude is not a character piece but a  work of more sections and development. The Wikipedia  article (link below is short and informative:     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tude_Op._10,_No._12_(Chopin)

Étude Op. 10, No. 12 in C minor, known as the Revolutionary Étude or the Étude on the Bombardment of Warsaw, is a solo piano work by Frédéric Chopin written circa 1831, and the last in his first set, Etudes Op.10, dedicated to Franz Liszt..

Unlike études of prior periods (works designed to emphasize and develop particular aspects of musical technique), the romantic études of composers such as Chopin and Liszt are fully developed musical concert pieces, but still continue to represent a goal of developing stronger technique.

In the case of the 12th Étude, the technique required in the opening bars is playing long, loud descending runs extremely fast in mainly the left hand, which forms a dominant seventh chord introductory build-up to the main theme. The length and the repetition of these rapid passages distinguishes the Revolutionary from other Études.

Although the greatest challenge lies with the relentless left hand, the right hand is also challenged by the cross-rhythms which are used with increasing sophistication to handle the same theme in various successive parallel passages.  The left hand technique in this piece involves evenly played semiquavers throughout.

The structure is of the strophic form (A-A’-Coda). The opening broken chords (diminished chord with an added passing note) and downward passages transition into the main appassionato melody. The octave melody’s dotted rhythms and the continuous accompaniment give an impression of tension. The piece ends by recalling the opening in a final descending sweep (with both hands) descending to a C major chord, although within a context that draws its expected function as a resolution into question.