mUltimate Chopin

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Authentic post-publication changes and variants

b. 32

composition: Op. 43, Tarantella

FED

A, FC3 (→FE1→IE), EE, GE
..

The  marking in FED is penciled in and must have come from Chopin, similarly in b. 48.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , Annotations in FED , Authentic post-publication changes and variants

b. 33

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

C-c in A (→FC→GE1, →FE→EE)

E-c in FED, FEJ, FES & GE2 (→GE3)
..

The published version of the last L.H. crotchet, a C-c octave, is most probably a result of a correction, which is revealed by the way it was written down in A – the bottom note is at the same pitch as the three E notes in b. 32-34 (as well as the ledger lines of the three D notes), while the ledger line placed above it differs in the thickness from the adjacent ones, which shows that it was added later. Therefore, it was initially an E-c sixth. In this situation, we consider the correction (performed in all three teaching copies bearing traces of being developed, i.e. FED, FEJ and FES) turning the octave back to a sixth to be Chopin's final decision (probably), presumably taken after multiple trials.
The fact that GE2 includes the version passed by Chopin to his pupils might indicate that the publisher had contact with a person from Chopin's circle, someone who knew about that correction – it seems rather unlikely that the reviser introduced such a change without any source indications. However, the octave was perhaps deemed mistaken because in this entire phrase, all the remaining c notes of the upper voice are coupled with an E in the lower one.
A similar situation can be found in b. 49. 

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

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , Annotations in FED , Corrections in A , Chopin's hesitations , Annotations in FES , Authentic post-publication changes and variants , Annotations in FEJ

b. 39-40

composition: Op. 27 No 2, Nocturne in D♭ major

No accents in  A (→GE)

Accents in FE

EE
..

When correcting FE (→EE), Chopin added accents under bass notes in the middle of each of those bars. In EE, a vertical accent was used in bar 40, which is characteristic for that edition. 

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: EE revisions , Authentic corrections of FE , Authentic post-publication changes and variants

b. 42

composition: Op. 25 No 6, Etude in G♯ minor

a-c1 in contextual interpretation of FC, FE, GE1, EE1 (→EE2) and in GE2 (→GE3), EE3 & FED

a-c1 in FEJ & FES, contextual interpretation, and FED, possible interpretation

a-b suggested by the editors – enharmonic notation of FEJ & FES, 
..

When publishing the Etude, Chopin envisaged c1 as the middle note of the chords from 4 to 7. The version is included in FC (→GE), FE and EE, yet only in GE and EE3 it was written without mistakes, with the necessary  lowering a to a. However, in all three preserved copies with Chopin's annotations there are entries proving the change of intention. In FEJ, a  lowering c1 to c1 was added in the 4th chord, in FES such naturals are before the 4th and 6th chords. In addition, the  added by Chopin before the 4th chord in FED, despite its lower position, can refer to the middle note (c1), as a should not have raised any doubts even without the necessary . Therefore, in all three cases Chopin changed the middle sound in the chords from 4 to 7 in a simplified enharmonically way from c1 to b. The version (our main text) bears features of Chopin improvement – in the original version, the effect of the change from c1 to b at the transition between bars 41 and 42 is reduced due to the later return of c1 in the middle of bar 42.  

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources; Editorial revisions; Corrections & alterations

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , Annotations in FED , Accompaniment changes , Annotations in FES , Authentic post-publication changes and variants , Annotations in FEJ

b. 45-46

composition: Op. 27 No 2, Nocturne in D♭ major

Dynamic markings of A

GE

FE

EE

Deletions and additions in FED

Changes written into FEJ

Changes in FES

Changes in FEFr

Our suggestion based on FEJ & FED
..

In particular sources, dynamic markings in those bars differ significantly. The version of A reproduced – despite various inaccuracies - in GE (→FE→EE) was later fundamentally changed, which can be seen in energetic deletions and additions in teaching copies and FEFr.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , Annotations in FED , Inaccuracies in GE , Annotations in FES , Annotations in FEFr , Authentic post-publication changes and variants , Annotations in FEJ