mUltimate Chopin

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Centrally placed marks

b. 16

composition: Op. 10 No 2, Etude in A minor

No marking in CLI & FE (→GE,EE) 

in Ap
..

We do not consider  present in Ap in the main text, as it seems to go beyond the dynamic framework of this part of the Etude. See bars 15-16.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Centrally placed marks

b. 16

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

 in Atut

 in FE (→EE,GE1→GE2)

 in GE3
..

The dynamic mark is written in Atut between two chords, so that in the majority of the sources it was assigned to the 3rd beat of the bar. According to us, however, the texture clearly indicates that the new dynamics should be valid already from the 1st chord, which is confirmed by the indications in the orchestral parts. Therefore, the notation of Atut is an example of a manner of placing marks within the range of their validity, sometimes used by Chopin. Due to this reason, in the main text we give  on the 2nd beat of the bar. Such an interpretation was applied also in GE3. There is a similar situation in bar 20.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , Centrally placed marks

b. 19-20

composition: Op. 10 No 9, Etude in F minor

No markings in AI

 &  in A, literal reading

FE (→GE,EE)
..

The scope of the  mark's validity is not entirely clear in A. It most probably concerns the entire bar, as it was understood in FE (→GE,EE), however, it cannot be excluded that Chopin wanted to suggest here a separation of the motif beginning from the 2nd quaver in the bar – cf. bars 23-24.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FE , Centrally placed marks

b. 19

composition: Op. 25 No 8, Etude in D♭ major

 in A (→GE) & EE3

 in FE

 in EE1 (→EE2)

 suggested by the editors
..

The type of the sign indicating the local culmination and its exact placement raise some doubts here:

  •  present in A (→GE) could have been replaced with  in the base texts to FE and EE1, which, in this situation, would have been Chopin's latest decision;
  • the  signs in FE and EE1 (→EE2) are placed slightly later and in different places, hence one can suspect an inaccurate reproduction of Chopin's notation or its misunderstanding.

In the main text we suggest a  as a result of Chopin's possible correction, placed in accordance with the musical sense at the beginning of the bar.

EE3 adopted the version of GE.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: fz – f , Centrally placed marks

b. 21

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

 before 2nd beat in the sources

 at the beginning of bar suggested by the editors
..

There is no doubt that the placement of the  sign in the sources is incompatible with the notation of [A]. However, it does not have to mean that the dynamics is valid only from the 2nd beat of the bar, as Chopin would sometimes use an older convention of placing performance indications not at the beginning, but in the middle of the scope of its validity. According to us, such an interpretation is more likely here than a literal interpretation. Similarly in bars 29, 75 and 83, which in [A] (→GC) were marked as a repetition of bar 21.  

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Editorial revisions

issues: Centrally placed marks