In spite of such abundant source versions of the 1st half of the bar, according to us, it has only one authentic version, present in EE and FESch. It was most probably in [A], however, the inaccuracy of the copyist and Chopin manner of writing seconds vertically probably contributed to its misinterpretation both in GC and in FE1:
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Gutmann would commit numerous minor inaccuracies, as far as the pitch is concerned. In the majority of the situations, the context allows for an easy interpretation of the correct note (cf., e.g., the middle B
in the upbeat of the 2nd movement and numerous situations in the Sonata's finale); at the same time, it is the notes that are written too low that prevail – cf., e.g., the e1 minim at the beginning of bar 233. In the discussed bar the mistake is not so obvious, however, the consistent presence of the e1 note in FE and EE, despite a few corrections, is enough to consider d1 to be a possible mistake of the copyist. -
A misinterpretation of a written in an autograph second as a third would often occur in Chopin's works. The fact that it was a mistake is proved by the subsequent history of corrections of this place – most probably in three independent proofreadings, in the base text to EE, in FE4 and in FESch, Chopin changed c2 to d2. In turn, the reverse change has never occurred.
Therefore, if we assume the e1-g1-d2-e2 chord to be – most probably – the only authentic one, it is logical to consider the version of the L.H. with d1, present accordingly in GC and FE1, hence in [A], to be correct.
According to us, one cannot entirely exclude the authenticity of the versions of FE3 and FE4, however, it is more likely that:
- a mistake occurred at the time of proofreading FE3 – instead of the part of the R.H., the one of the L.H. was changed;
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the proofreading of FE4, whose result was supposed to be d2 in the R.H. and d1 in the L.H., was performed only halfway – only the part of the R.H. was corrected.
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations
issues: Errors in FE, Authentic corrections of FE, Errors of GC
notation: Pitch