Composed: 1950
Premiered: 1951
Duration: 7 minutes
Little information exists about Elizabeth Maconchy’s Nocturne, but it was one of many works by the Irish-English composer. She began taking piano lessons as a young girl after her parents moved back to Ireland from Hertfordshire, and she began composing at the age of 6. At 16, she began her studies at the Royal College of Music under the tutelage of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Charles Wood. As its title suggests, Nocturne evokes a sense of nighttime, and it carries an air of charm and mystery.