As stated in the “General Overview,” the genesis of this work is largely unknown, but one clue regarding its composition period can be found in a letter Fauré sent to his wife from Lausanne on September 15, 1908. In this letter, Fauré wrote that he hoped Nocturne No. 10, which he was composing, would “belong to the other nine nocturnes” (※1), indicating that nine nocturnes already existed (※2). Therefore, it is believed that Nocturne No. 9 had been completed by the end of the summer of 1908.

During this period, Fauré’s creative focus was on the opera Pénélope (1907-1912). Meanwhile, slightly before embarking on Pénélope, in 1905, Fauré signed a publishing contract with Heugel & Cie, promising to compose 30 pieces between 1906 and 1909 (※3). Consequently, he composed and published several songs and piano pieces in between working on Pénélope. Nocturne No. 9 and the subsequent Nocturne No. 10 are part of this body of works.

Although Nocturne No. 9 does not possess any particularly striking anecdotes, it can be seen to hold significant meaning when viewed from the perspective of the stylistic evolution of this composer’s piano music. For instance, the husband of Clotilde Bréal, Alfred Cortot (※4), to whom this nocturne was dedicated, stated in 1922, while Fauré was still alive, that the “new poetic state” characterized by “rigor of development” and “absolute clarity of modulation” demonstrated in Barcarolle No. 8 “becomes almost definitive” in this Nocturne No. 9. He further commented, “It is beneath this modest exterior, presented by a seemingly extremely concise piano writing, that lies the subtle and undeniable persuasive power of the harmonic language—a power that increases as it is freed from superficial ornamentation” (※5), thereby pointing out that the characteristics of Fauré’s late style clearly emerge in this work.

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※1  Gabriel Fauré, Lettres intimes, presented by Philippe Fauré-Fremiet, Paris, Bernard Grasset, 1951, p. 167.

※2 Nocturne No. 8 (composed in 1902) was originally composed as No. 8 <Nocturne> of 8 Pièces, Op. 84, on September 4, 1902. Subsequently, a collection of scores containing Nocturnes No. 1 to No. 8 was published by Hamelle in 1924.

※3  Jean-Michel Nectoux, Gabriel Fauré. Les voix du clair-obscur, 2nd ed. Paris, Fayard, 2008, p. 361. (Japanese translation: Jean-Michel Nectoux, Biography of Fauré: Voices of Chiaroscuro, supervised by Chisato Otani, translated by Yoshiko Hidaka and Fumiko Miyagawa, Tokyo: Shinhyoron, 2000, pp. 394-395.)

※4 Cortot succeeded Antonin-Émile-Louis Corbaz Marmontel (1850-1907) (adopted son of Antoine-François Marmontel), who passed away in 1907, as professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire. He premiered Fauré’s Nocturne No. 7, Op. 74 (composed in 1898) in 1901, and was also the dedicatee of Fantaisie, Op. 111, in 1918.

※5 Alfred Cortot, “La musique de piano”, La Revue musicale, n° spécial, G. Fauré, IV, n°11, octobre 1922, p. 99.