mUltimate Chopin

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Annotations in FES

b. 11-12

composition: Op. 28 No. 15, Prelude in D♭ major

Fingering written into FED

Fingering written into FES

No teaching fingering

Fingering suggested by the editors
..

In the main text we give a fingering resulting from the complementary and partially identical entries in FED and FES. The constant position of the thumb on c2 is noteworthy. See also the fingering in b. 15-16 and 16-18.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , Annotations in FED , Annotations in FES

b. 12

composition: Op. 28 No. 4, Prelude in E minor

Fingering written into FED, FEJ & FES

No teaching fingering
..

In three out of four teaching copies, we find identical Chopinesque entries, indicating a swap of fingers on the c1 note (from 1st to 2nd). The entry in FED is clearest, whereas the one in FEJ – most difficult to read.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , Annotations in FED , Annotations in FES , Annotations in FEJ

b. 12

composition: Op. 28 No. 4, Prelude in E minor

Fingering written into FES

No teaching fingering
..

The poorly legible addition in FES, performed in pencil, most probably marks fingering – it contains two marks, out of which the first is almost certainly a digit '3', which makes us suppose that the second will be a digit too, which we thereby interpret as a '5'. According to us, a similarly placed entry in FEJ, however, does not mark fingering, but a variant in the form of an f1 grace note. 

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , Annotations in FES

b. 12-13

composition: Op. 28 No. 6, Prelude in B minor

Fingering written into FEJ

Fingering written into FES

No teaching fingering

Fingering suggested by the editors, based on FES & FEJ
..

In the main text we combine the compatible entries of FEJ and FES.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , Annotations in FES , Annotations in FEJ

b. 12

composition: Op. 28 No. 7, Prelude in A major

Chord with fingering in A (→FE,FC→GE)

Chord with fingering suggested by the editors

Chord without fingering in EE & CGS

Simplified chord in FES
..

The version entered – most probably by Chopin – into FES may be considered an acceptable variant, facilitating the performance (Chopin did not cross out the fingering, but it is clear that it does not apply to this version). In GE the R.H. chord was written in a complicated, obscure manner (reproduced only in the graphical transcription – version "transcription"), not resulting from the notation of A (→FC), i.e. the a1-c2 third was provided with a separate stem and placed before the other elements of the chord. In the main text we mark the Chopinesque fingering, indicating a simultaneous performance of the R.H. a1-c2 third with the 1st finger, in a manner compliant with the one that was adopted in the National Edition for two keys being pressed with one finger. Chopin used such a measure for a minor third on black keys on a few occasions – cf. the Concerto in E Minor, Op. 11, II mov., b. 16, Concerto in F Minor, Op. 21, II mov., b. 77 and most probably also the Scherzo in C Minor, Op. 39, b. 6-8 and 14-16.   

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , Inaccuracies in GE , Annotations in FES