mUltimate Chopin

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Hairpins denoting continuation

b. 4-6

composition: Op. 26 No 1, Polonaise in C♯ minor

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In bar 6, opening a new line of the text in A (→FE→GE), Chopin wrote new  hairpins. However, the range of both this sign and of the previous one (in bar 5) clearly indicates the intention of a continuous crescendo in both bars. This is how it was reproduced in the editions in the written repetition of these bars (in EE the unambiguous notation was used already in the first appearance of this fragment). Taking into account the fact that in our transcriptions bars 5-6 are in one line of the text, we use one  sign, as the seemingly literal interpretation of both signs in such a graphical layout would have changed its sense to a much greater extent.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Hairpins denoting continuation

b. 5-6

composition: Op. 35, Sonata in B♭ minor, Mvt II

Two  in GC (→GE)

Two-bar  in FE (→EE)
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According to us, the most likely explanation for the existing discrepancy between the sources based on [A] is the sometimes used by the engravers identification of two (or more) following  signs with one longer. A possible Chopin's correction in [A], introduced already after preparing GC, which is potentially an alternative explanation, seems to be poorly justified:

  • two  do not exclude a continuous crescendo, therefore, there is no need to combine the signs;
  • only the separate signs show also a dynamic change defining the character of the one-bar repetitive motifs, ended with an accent.

Due to this fact, in the main text we give the source and stylistically unquestionable indications of GC (→GE).

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: FE revisions , Hairpins denoting continuation

b. 5-6

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

1  mark in FE (→EEW)

2  marks in GE
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The separated  hairpin in GE is a revision facilitating the engraver's work. In Chopin's times, both versions of notation were often considered equivalent.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , Hairpins denoting continuation

b. 6-7

composition: Op. 45, Prelude in C♯ minor

Two  signs in FE (→EE)

Possible interpretation of FE1

GE

Our variant suggestion
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In the main text we suggest a variant solution that takes into account both the version of GE and that of FE (→EE). The two   marks that can be seen in FE1 (→FE2, EE) could correspond to one longer mark in the autograph, as in Chopin's times publishers used to replace a single hairpin mark   with two marks when it had to be divided because of a new line of text. For that reason we also propose an alternative version with such an interpretation of the marks. Due to differences in sources and clear analogies in the structure of motifs, the same problem also appears in ten other similar places in the Prelude (on this page in bars 10-11 and 20-21).

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Hairpins denoting continuation

b. 6

composition: Op. 10 No 7, Etude in C major

 in A

  in FE (→GE,EE3)

Three hairpins in EE4

Our variant suggestion
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A has only a  mark in the 2nd half of the bar, while FE (→GE,EE3) only   marks in the 1st half. The marks added in the 1st half of the bar are undoubtedly a result of Chopin's proofreading, however, it is not entirely clear in the case of the mark omitted in the 2nd half of the bar. Therefore, in the main text we include the addition performed in FE (interpreting the  mark as continuation of the previous one), yet we do not entirely renounce the hairpins written in A (cf. bar 7). A similar solution was introduced in EE4.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Errors in FE , Authentic corrections of FE , Hairpins denoting continuation