Op. 26 No 2, Polonaise in E♭ minor

An autograph-fair score intended for base text to the first French edition (FE1), performed between 1831 and 1836. The autograph contains a title chart with a dedication and the composer's signature: Deux polonaises pour le piano dediés [!] à son ami J. Dessauer par F. Chopin. 

A contains numerous corrections (mostly deletions), which do not impede its interpretation, however, they prove still ongoing works on polishing the details of the piece. Chopin changed, deleted or moved:

• performance indications, e.g., in bars 3-7, 48-49 or 101-102;
• details of accompaniment, e.g., in bars 14, 20, 22, 38, 71-72;
• accents (e.g., in bar 18), staccato dots (e.g., in bar 80);
• slurs, e.g., in bar 20, ;
• division of chords into hands, e.g., in bar 24 or 89;
• grouping of rhythmic values, e.g., change of separate quavers, written with flags, to a pair combined with a beam in bar 28;
• rhythmic values, e.g., in bars 84 and 92.

Bars 49-68 and 105-171 (hence almost a half of the Polonaise) are written in A in an abbreviated manner with help of numbers of the bars which were supposed to be repeated in this place. It caused a number of errors and mistakes committed at the time of preparing the piece for print – discussed in a more extensive manner in the characteristics of FE1 and notes concerning the particular places (cf. bar 49).

The repetition of bars 21-68 also raises doubts. A repetition sign appears at the end of this section (in bar 68), yet there is no corresponding sign at the beginning (in bar 21), therefore, it is not clear whether Chopin wanted to repeat these bars or not – see bar 21.

The inaccuracies of A also include:

• articulation in bars 69-99 – staccato dots, particularly for the L.H., are written inconsistently, whereas the concept of the slurring was still not entirely clear. Chopin performed a detailed proofreading of this fragment in FE1, specifying and changing the notation (cf. bar 69 and 70-71);
• omissions of accidentals, e.g., flats returning a and A in bar 3, naturals raising a and d¹ to a and d¹ in bar 14 and g¹ to g¹ in bar 15, or six naturals in bar 32;
• unclear notation of c/c – superfluous flats before c (e.g., in bars 16-17) and no naturals raising c to c (e.g., in bars 34-40).

There are also rhythmic inaccuracies, e.g., in bar 89.

The notation of A reveals haste, visible, among others, in inaccurate slurs (e.g., in bars 4 and 19) or written in a simplified manner accidentals (e.g., naturals, as well as the flats in bars 33-38).