b. 125

D1 in A (→FCGE)

D in FE (→EE)

The preserved sources prove that Chopin changed his mind twice as far as the pitch of the 1st crotchet is concerned.
A correction – deleted D1-D octave – is visible already in A. However, it does not mean that it was the original, deleted version:

  • it could have been that octave;
  • it could have been a single D, which Chopin initially wanted to change to a D1, yet he considered the result of such a correction to be illegible, so he deleted everything and wrote a D1 beside it. It would suggest that the composer hesitated, since he would have returned to the original version while proofreading FE later on.

The version of FE (→EE) is also a result of Chopin's proofreading; however, in this case we also cannot be certain what the corrected element was:

  • D1, printed correctly on the basis of A – the visible traces of corrections rather deny such a scenario; however, it does not mean that this was not the case;
  • another misprinted note.

Anyway, the proofreading of FE expresses Chopin's latest decision, hence we give it in the main text. However, we consider D1 to be an equivalent variant, since we cannot be certain whether Chopin actually wanted to replace the version of the remaining sources.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Corrections in A, Chopin's hesitations, Authentic corrections of FE

notation: Pitch

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