Main text
Main text
Afrag - Autograph fragment
A1 - Autograph fair-copy
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French edition
FE2 - Second French edition
FED - Dubois copy
GE - German edition
GE1 - First German edition
GE2 - Second German edition
EE - English edition
EE1 - First English edition
compare
  b. 74-75

2 slurs in A1 (→FEEE)

Continuous slur in GE

The slurring of the entire final part of the Mazurka differs quite significantly between A1 (→FEEE) and [A2] (→GE). In the version of A1 the slurs are generally more detailed, e.g. in b. 73-76 A1 has 2 two-bar slurs, whereas GE – one four-bar slur reaching the beginning of b. 77. However, both versions reasonably combine with the structure, the harmonic course or with the articulation so that they can be considered equal. In the main text we decided to adopt the slurring of A1 due to the following reasons:

  • the absence of [A2] means that the slurring of GE is subject to uncertainties, since the slurs contained in the Chopinesque autographs may be difficult to interpret (e.g. between the lines), which could have resulted in combining the slurs, contrary to Chopin's intention (cf. b. 79-81);
  • the traces of correction of the slurs visible in A1 – connection of the slurs in b. 88-89 and division in b. 93 – are a guarantee of a well-thought-out slurring concept. Moreover, although the range of the corrected slurs as a whole was different than the one of the slurs of GE, the introduced changes are, however, contrary to them – the connection encompasses a place in which the slur of GE ends and the division falls on a place in which there is a continuous slur in GE;
  • in b. 85-96 not only is the slurring of A1 more detailed than in GE, but it is also richer in unobvious details of phrasing, e.g. the division of the slur between b. 87 and 88. 

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category imprint: Differences between sources

notation: Slurs

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