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Chopin Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 In the 13th full bar, Right hand 5th note. My music sheet shows a Cb (equivalent to B). Should it be there? Should it be played as B natural followed by B-flat?

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    The key most probably already has a Bb so thinking of Cb as B would be confusing. The idea of having one note per letter name in a Major / minor scale is a good thing.
    – Neil Meyer
    Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 6:37
  • If you could show as an excerpt of the music you are referring to it would help people a great deal in answering this. As it is we are just theory crafting.
    – Neil Meyer
    Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 6:38
  • @Neil Meyer I have no problem thinking that Cb and B are the same nore on the piano, don't all the notes have two names already? My question is aimed at Chopin players who have printed music that may differ from mine.
    – cuddlyable3
    Commented Jul 24, 2015 at 12:26
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    It's the same concept on a different note that's why it's a duplicate. It's even the exact inverse scenario so it should be easy to see what's going on.
    – Dom ♦
    Commented Jul 24, 2015 at 13:02
  • A better option will be to put a B with a natural mark on it.
    – Vighnesh
    Commented Jul 22, 2023 at 6:25

2 Answers 2

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I haven't checked the sheet music, but in any case, a Cb is enharmonically the same as a B natural. As is always the case, the flat just lowers the note by a semi-tone.

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In keeping with the melodic and rhythmic elements Chopin is working with, his intention is to flatten the sixth degree of Eb (key) - i.e., the C. This happens to be the enharmonic equivalent of B. Regardless, his intentions lead him to write Cb.

This is an idiosyncratic feature of the key of Eb. Flattening the sixth of other major scales does not lead to this sort of enharmonic equivalent ambiguity.

EDIT As Matt points out in the comments, the same ambiguity arises if Ab major, where the 6th is F.

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    "Flattening the sixth of other major scales does not lead to this sort of enharmonic equivalent ambiguity." It does. In Ab major the flattened sixth degree is an Fb, enharmonically an E.
    – Matt L.
    Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 6:48
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    @MattL. Gosh, you're absolutely right. I thought I'd considered all of the cases using F, but I guess I only considered A major, where F is sharp.
    – gamma
    Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 11:28

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