Op. 21, Concerto in F minor, Mvt I

 b. 187

The b¹ note on the 5th quaver of the bottom note is written in A a little bit too low, so that it can be interpreted as a¹. The correctness of b¹ is confirmed by parts of oboes and clarinets in Morch as well as by analogy with the previous bar, in which the harmonic sequence – written a fifth higher (in top voices) – is almost identical.
In this situation, the version of GE1 with c² must be considered erroneous and the mistake could have been caused by the inaccuracy of the notation of A – c² could have been erroneously written a¹ (Terzverschreibung error).
In the proofreading of FE (→EE), c², adopted from GE1, was also completed with e¹. The correction may have been introduced by Chopin himself and one can ponder whether it might signalise an intention of replacing the original version of ½A. According to us, however, it is more likely that Chopin corrected only the erroneous version of GE1 with its empty sound G-g-c²-g² (it should also be mentioned that even in the case of an authentic proofreading of print, there is always a possibility of its inaccurate or erroneous implementation).
Therefore, considering the status of the change introduced in FE to be uncertain, in the main text we preserve the original version of A, more pianistically convenient and above all compliant with the sound of the orchestra written in Morch and unchanged in the orchestral voices published on its basis.

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

issues: Errors in GE, GE revisions, Authentic corrections of FE

notation: Pitch