Uncle John's Notebook: Nocturne, March & Ballade

This collection of three pieces for solo piano started life, probably, in a notebook belonging to my late uncle John Edwin Yate Pitts. John was from Liverpool, studied briefly at the Royal Manchester College of Music, and lived most of his life in North Wales. He was an accomplished amateur pianist (as was his mother), and a great music lover – especially of the late romantic period.

The notebook was passed on to me in the early 1990s, and although largely empty, it contained three short sketches of musical ideas, two untitled, and one labelled “March”. The notebook had almost certainly belonged to John’s father before him, but the style of the musical ideas seems to suggest that they were John’s.

I have now used these three sketches as the starting point for three short piano pieces in a late romantic style - Nocturne, March and Ballade - in a manner that I hope Uncle John would approve of - totalling about 12 minutes. Intermediate/higher intermediate difficulty.