WN 17, Polonaise in B♭ major

Ludwika Jędrzejewicz's copy, most probably made on the basis of the lost autograph, which we mark with the [AI] symbol. On the last page of the Polonaise in B major one can see the initial fragment of the Polonaise in F minor WN 12 (13 bars, out of which last 8 include only melody), titled Polonaise 3. Indicating the Polonaise in F minor as the third one may be related only to Fontana's edition, in which it is the last one in the group of three polonaises. It would suggest that JC was made already during the preparation of EF, hence in the 1850s. However, such a conclusion seems to be too premature:

• JC is written on a double card of the same paper as the manuscripts of the Etudes Op. 10, No. 1 and 2, dated November 2, 1830;
• the fragment of the Polonaise in F minor is written with another ink and with a visible haste, which indicates that it was written in other circumstances than the entire Polonaise in B major.

According to us, regardless of the aim of the incipit of the Polonaise in F minor, which was added later, Ludwika made the copy of the Polonaise in B major more or less at the time when Chopin composed it (1828-1829).

JC contains a significant number of errors:

• imprecisely written rhythms in, e.g., the upbeat, in bars 14, 23, 32, 34, 63, 68, 76;
• notes written on an erroneous pitch, e.g., A instead of B in bar 17, e instead of f in bar 21, d² instead of c² in bar 23, A₁ instead of G₁ in bar 35;
• not deleted erroneously written notes in bars 53 and 60;
• accidentals on an erroneous pitch, e.g., a  before d² instead of before b¹ in bar 63; sometimes without any influence on the text;
• overseen notes, e.g., the lower voice in bars 15 and 63;
• overseen octave signs in bars 65-66, 71 and 74-75; 
• overseen clefs, e.g., in bar 66.

Numerous inaccuracies in alignment of the parts of both hands, e.g., in bars 4 or 55 and other imperfections of notation, e.g., arpeggios written after chords in bar 23 and in the entire Trio (e.g., in bars 52-53 and 62) constitute a characteristic feature.

In JC we find a marginal number of performance indications: slurs in bars 23-24 over the irregular semiquaver groups in bars 10-11, 18-19, and 55, staccato signs in bar 56, accents in bars 52 and 69.

JC includes a number of corrections, in the case of some of them, Chopin's hand cannot be excluded (e.g., in bars 1-3, 38). If we take into consideration a significant number of notation errors, a possible insight of the composer, yet, seems to be highly unlikely.

Ludwika also wrote the two-bar-long incipit of the Polonaise in her index of unpublished pieces by Chopin that she made in the 1850s ("Unpublished compositions"). It does not contain the rhythmic error in the upbeat.

Characteristics of [AI]
The comparison with the remaining sources of the Polonaise allows to characterise the lost autograph, on the basis of which JC was made. It included an undoubtedly earlier edition of the piece than the one which presents PE, based on another autograph. What is more, [AI] was of draft character, which is indicated by an almost total lack of performance indications, as well as by a number of possible common errors appearing in the sources stemming from it, JC and EF (e.g., lack of octaves in bars 1-3, e instead of f in bar 15, the part of the R.H. at the beginning of bar 23). They may be attributed to difficulties in deciphering the notation with deletions and corrections. The notation of bars 10-11, 18, and 25-26 and analog. in JC is also undoubtedly of a draft character.