mUltimate Chopin

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : No pedal release mark

b. 270

composition: Op. 2, Variations, complete

No marking in sources

[] suggested by the editors
..

In the main text we suggest adding a  asterisk at the end of the bar. Chopin probably considered this bar an ending of the piece (movement), where he would often omit a pedal release mark. We consider it necessary to add this mark, not so much due to the need of releasing pedal before Alla Polacca starts, but to prevent possible earlier changes of pedal, which almost certainly were not intended by Chopin.

category imprint: Editorial revisions

issues: No pedal release mark

b. 272-273

composition: Op. 11, Concerto in E minor, Mvt III

 in FE (→GE1→GE2)

   in EE

No pedalling in GE3

Our variant suggestion
..

The missing  mark does not have to be considered a mistake – such a notation is to be found on several occasions in Chopin's pieces (e.g. in the autograph of the Etude in D​​​​​​​ Major, Op. 25 No. 8, bars 19-20). The marks we suggest are the earliest and latest possible – due to harmonic reasons – moments of pedal release. It was already EE that considered the notation of FE to be inaccurate; in turn, an additional omission of the  mark is probably a mistake of GE3. 

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: EE revisions , Errors in GE , No pedal release mark

b. 276-281

composition: Op. 35, Sonata in B♭ minor, Mvt II

Pedalling in GC (→GE)

Only  in FE

Pedalling in EE

Our variant suggestion
..

It is not clear how the difference in pedal markings arose between GC (→GE) and FE. Possible are both the oversight of  by the engraver of FE and the mistaken placement of the sign by the copyist. Chopin also could have crossed  out in [A] after GC had been prepared. Considering the authenticity and chronology of the two source versions as uncertain we suggest a variant solution in the main text.
The sign in EE, despite of its apparent accordance with GC, seems to be a reviser's addition – the sign is different in form from other similar signs. 

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: No pedal release mark

b. 282

composition: Op. 2, Variations, complete

No  in sources

[] suggested by the editors
..

We consider the omission of the  mark in this bar by Chopin an oversight, and in the main text we suggest a  in a harmonically natural place.

category imprint: Editorial revisions

issues: No pedal release mark

b. 283

composition: Op. 21, Concerto in F minor, Mvt I

 in A

 in GE1 (→FE)

  &  in EE

 &  in GE2

 [] suggested by the editors
..

In A there is no  asterisk after the  sign in the middle of the bar. This oversight, frequent in Chopin's works, unnoticed perhaps due to the end of the page in A, could have also contributed to the erroneous interpretation of the  sign as  in GE (→FE→EE). In EE   were added, most probably on the basis of the authentic pedalling in analogous bar 135. The pedalling was added also in GE2, although only in the incomplete version of A; the  sign was also preserved, in spite of the fact that it is not included in A.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Errors in GE , GE revisions , No pedal release mark