Written when Chopin was a student at the Warsaw Conservatory, this is the earliest of the 21 nocturnes in the composer's output. While one might expect it to divulge the youthful sins of inexperience and imitation, the listener will notice it is remarkably assured in its writing, even if it is not quite as harmonically sophisticated as many of his later works. For a 17-year-old, however, it is quite an accomplishment.

Like most of the composer's subsequent nocturnes, this E minor effort has a gentle intimacy of expression. But here that characteristic borders on the funereal in its gloom and vague sense of struggle. The main theme is melancholy in its mostly descending contour, seeming the manifestation of depression as much as of sorrow. It is a beautiful creation, though, even if some might charge that Chopin indulges in too many repetitions of it. The only alternate melodic ideas presented are bridge passages and slight variants of this sad melody. But Chopin deftly defines his melodic material with subtle shadings of color and a sense for growing intensity.

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