mUltimate Chopin

Issues : No pedal release mark

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b. 1-2

composition: Op. 28 No. 7, Prelude in A major

on E in A (→FC→GE, →FE→EE)

on e¹ in CXI

on e¹ (without ) in CGS

In A the mark is written before the bass E, which, due to the significant horizontal spaces between subsequent notes, does not contribute to misunderstandings – both in FC (→GE) and FE (→EE) it was placed under that note. In turn, in CGS a respective mark was placed not only before the note (like in A), but also before the bar line; moreover, the e¹ crotchet in the upbeat falls precisely over that mark, which already changes the meaning of that indication. Such a pedalling would be perfectly acceptable; however, it is difficult to say whether the copyist conveyed here a pedalling variant, perhaps authentic, or whether she simply inaccurately wrote the version of FE. A mark at the beginning of the piece (written already under the time signature) appears also in CXI.

In CGS the discussed mark is the only pedalling indication in the entire piece. Therefore, it suggests another possible explanation for such a position – placed at the beginning of the piece, the mark is just a general indication, according to which the pedalling should be natural (=harmonic).

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category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: No pedal release mark , Inaccuracies in CGS

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b. 2-14

composition: Op. 10 No 5, Etude in G♭ major

No pedalling in A

Pedalling in FE (→GE1→GE1a)

GE2 (→GE3→GE4→GE5) & EE

Our suggestion

Our alternative suggestion

The pedal markings added in a proofreading of FE in bars 2, 6 and analog. differ in the placement of the pedal release's mark, which in bars 2 and 14 (as well as in 50) is under the 3rd quaver of the bar, while in bar 6 – under the 2nd one. According to us, it cannot be excluded that Chopin had a different vision of pedalling in bars 1-2 and 9-10 (the first bar of the pair without pedal and in the second one, a half-bar long pedal) and a different one in bars 5-6 and 13-14 (all bars with a pedal to the 2nd quavers). We suggest this possibility, in which the mark in bar 14 must be considered as misplaced, in the main text. As an alternative, we give a homogeneous pedalling in bars 2, 6 and analog., in which always falls in the middle of the bar (it requires to assume that in bar 6 was written by mistake).

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category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: EE revisions , Inaccuracies in FE , GE revisions , Authentic corrections of FE , No pedal release mark

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b. 3-4

composition: Op. 10 No 11, Etude in E♭ major

in A

No pedalling in FE (→GE,EE)

Our suggestion

In Chopin's notation, the marks which are not followed by usually appear at the end of the pieces. In other situations it is mostly a result of an oversight, yet sometimes it seems that Chopin wanted to emphasise a performance of a given fragment with pedal but without a precise indication of each movement of the leg. This is the situation we are probably facing in this place, as the marks of a pedal depressed on each quaver could simply occupy too much space. In order to avoid any ambiguity, in the main text we add con. In the editions the pedal mark was omitted. Cf. bars 11-12.

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category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: Inaccuracies in FE , No pedal release mark

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b. 3-11

composition: Op. 10 No 5, Etude in G♭ major

No pedalling in A

Pedalling in FE (→GE1)

GE2 (→GE3→GE4→GE5)

Our alternative suggestion

Pedalling in bar 3 and analog., added by Chopin in a proofreading of FE, is inconsistent (bars 3 and 51 have all marks, yet they are differently distributed) and partially incomplete (in bar 11 there is only the sign at the beginning of the bar). The second sign in bar 3, misplaced in FE (→EE), is interpreted by us as falling on the 4th quaver in the bar; it was equally recreated in GE. In the main text we give a pedalling addition in bar 11 on the basis of bar 3, a similar action was taken in GE2 (→GE3→GE4→GE5). As an alternative solution, in both bars we propose a pedalling based on bar 51.