25 THÉO FOUCHENNERET D flat major: the key par excellence of the Fauré nocturne! It’s also the key of nos. 6 and 8! The Eighth, imported from the Pièces brèves, fits perfectly into this tonal continuity. With its fluidity, its simplicity and its rocking barcarolle rhythm, it provides a respite, a salutary pause for breath after no.7, and a marvellous link to the related key of no.9. D flat major is the key Fauré chose for the half-light. He used flat keys to give most of his early nocturnes that special kind of luminosity. No.2 in B major is an exception: its arid, toccata-like middle section contrasts with the radiant limpidity of the beginning and the end. Its form prefigures those of the great nocturnes to come. From the Ninth Nocturne onwards, the atmosphere darkens and changes radically, this time moving towards the minor mode and the sharp keys.
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