Ornamental and Motivic Integration in Chopin's Op. 9 Nocturnes

The distinction between musical structure and ornament, like most dichotomies, affords an opportunity for boundary play. This dichotomy was brought into focus at the turn of the nineteenth century, which marked a stylistic shift from the classical use of ornament, to articulate structure, towards a style in which ornamentation was treated thematically. Charles Rosen traces this shift occurring as early as Haydn’s op. 33 quartets and continuing through Beethoven’s late works.1 As an example, the finale of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata op. 111 features a gradual acceleration in each variation that culminates in a cadential trill in the final variation. Beethoven has provided a thematic justification for an ornamental convention—here, structural process and ornamental expressivity are inseparable. Along these same lines, Gerald Abraham once quipped, “When is ornamentation not ornamentation? . . . When it is Chopin’s.”2 This suggests a similar perspective to Rosen’s but the observation is translated to a later repertoire. For Chopin, no less than for the Viennese classics, the thematic treatment of ornamentation is a central stylistic concern. In the op. 9 nocturnes of 1830–31, Chopin demonstrates a concern for the integration of ornamental detail with large-scale compositional design. Although Chopin employs a wide diversity of ornamental figures in these works, some ornaments take on a distinct, motivic significance. Two ornamental motives in particular saturate the fioritura passages and cadenzas of op. 9. These motives serve to integrate the opus both in terms of its breadth, by stretching across all three nocturnes, and