Six Nocturnes

The Nocturnes for oboe and piano were written at a time when the oboe was gradually being pushed aside by the clarinet. Nobody but oboe players themselves composed anything for their instrument. Both composers of the Nocturnes presented here were oboe players. They lived from 1768 - 1853 and 1752 - 1825 respectively. In those days, a nocturne tended to be a piece for a solo instrument plus piano or harp based on a very popular aria. These arias were so well-known to everybody that there was no need for the composers to add any further details, which makes it very difficult now to identify these "hits of the time". The Nocturnes presented here were published between 1806 and 1816. Florence Badol-Bertrand, a musicologist, went through the first prints, collected in Parisian archives, revised and rearranged them. Suggestions as to articulation and phrasing were also added by Jean-Pierre Arnaud, solo English horn player at the Parisian Opera. The Nocturnes are delightful testimonies of times gone by. Their level of difficulty is upper intermediate as they contain some virtuoso passages.