mUltimate Chopin

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Main-line changes

b. 5

composition: Op. 10 No 1, Etude in C major

b3 in CLI & EE

a3 in FE (→GE)
..

The b3 note on the last semiquaver of CLI and EE could be easily considered as a mistake except for the fact that in analogous bar 53 the sources have the same text. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that in CLI we are dealing with the original version, while in EE with the editor's revision.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Errors in EE , Main-line changes , Errors of CLI

b. 5-6

composition: Op. 64 No 1, Waltz in D♭ major

Minim & quavers in As

Crotchet & quavers in AI

Quavers in AII, AIII & A (→FE→GE,EE)
..

A comparison of the versions of As and AI allows to assume an intermediate stage, in which the melody in these bars already had the form written in AI, yet still without the four-bar introduction without accompaniment. In AI, the introduction, appearing for the first time, has a form of a preview of the actual beginning of the theme, which simply repeats the first three bars. In the final version, the entire "run-up," in which the four-quaver, ostinato figure develops, is moved to the introduction, which consequently organically combines with the theme, without any caesura. 

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Main-line changes

b. 5-6

composition: Op. 28 No. 24, Prelude in D minor

..

The crossings-out visible in A allowed us to decipher the initial rhythm of b. 5: . According to us, it is likely that it was also the last a1 note in b. 6 that was initially a quaver – it is indicated by a denser notation, which points to a semiquaver rest having been possibly added, as well as by the difference in the shape of the flags next to that note, which would suggest that they were entered at different times.

category imprint: Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Corrections in A , Deletions in A , Main-line changes

b. 6

composition: Op. 28 No. 21, Prelude in B♭ major

..

The crossing-out in A reveals the initial version of the beginning of this bar: .

category imprint: Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Corrections in A , Deletions in A , Main-line changes

b. 6-7

composition: Op. 63 No. 2, Mazurka in F minor

As version

FE (→GE,EE) version
..

Chopin decided to publish bar 7 – together with the last quaver in bar 6 – in a changed version with respect to the notation of As. However, according to us, it is uncertain which version was earlier, since the notation of As suggests that corrections were being made to the first version:

  • it seems that the natural at the end of bar 6 was added later,
  • the 1st quaver in bar 7 could have been changed from g1 to a1,
  • it seems that the 2nd quaver was added in between the adjacent ones,
  • the flag and it having been slashed in the a1 grace note seem to have been added to the stem of a normal quaver (penultimate in the initial version).

If all the above assumptions proved to be true, it would turn out that it was the final version that was entered first (except the enharmonically equivalent notation of the 2nd quaver in bar 7,  g1 instead of a1). Therefore, it would be a very clear example of Chopin's hesitation.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Chopin's hesitations , Main-line changes