mUltimate Chopin

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Inaccuracies in A

b. 363-364

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

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Four necessary flats lowering g to g (in different octaves) are missing in A: Chopin wrote signs only at the beginning of the bars, in the L.H. in bar 363 and in the R.H. in bar 364. In GE1 (→FE1→EE1→EE2) a  was added before the bass G in bar 365, but it is only GE2 and EE3 that include the fully correct notation.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Accidentals in different octaves , GE revisions , Omission of current key accidentals , Inaccuracies in A

b. 363-366

composition: Op. 2, Variations, complete

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As before (bars 349-352), in A Chopin writes accidentals only to the top notes of the octaves (in the R.H. and in the L.H.). He then considers these accidentals to be valid throughout an entire bar in all octaves of a given stave. All the omitted accidentals – 27 flats to d and g and 2 naturals to e – were already added in GE1 and were repeated in the remaining editions.
In the main text we omit the  to the d3 semiquaver in bar 363, unnecessarily repeated by Chopin. We do not include the  to the next semiquaver, d2, either, added in GE (→FE,EE). 

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Accidentals in different octaves , GE revisions , Cautionary accidentals , Inaccuracies in A

b. 367

composition: Op. 2, Variations, complete

pédale de la basse in AsI

 after first quaver in A, literal reading

 under 2nd quaver in GE (→FE,EE,FESB)

 under 1st quaver suggested by the editors
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The placement of the  mark in A does not allow us to reproduce Chopin's intention unequivocally. Statistically speaking, Chopin would write a  mark more often – especially in the case of low-placed bass notes – before the note it was supposed to concern than after such note, but his autographs include both situations. Therefore, we assume that in this case it is the pianistic context that is decisive – bass pedal notes belong to Chopin's favourite harmonic procedures, hence the doubled F1-F octave held with pedal seems to be more likely than the solution adopted by the editions. This conclusion is confirmed by the notation of AsI – the 'bass pedal' indication written under the semiquaver figuration undoubtedly refers to the reverberation of the initial octave, which in the orchestral part is sustained by the f note, played in bars 367-368 by the bassoon, while in bars 369-370 by the French horn. 

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: GE revisions , Inaccuracies in A

b. 409-419

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

Slurs to c3-f3 in A (contextual interpretation) & GE2

Slurs to d3 in GE1 (→FE→EE)
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In A, the slurs over each of the descending figures in the R.H. in bars 409, 410, 417 and 418 reach the c3-f3 fourth at the beginning of the next bar (the first of them, slightly shorter, is an exception, yet in this case Chopin certainly had a longer slur in mind, too, which is proved by the slur of the original crossed out notation of bars 409-411). In spite of this, in GE1 (→FE→EE) all four slurs end with the last quaver in these bars.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in GE , Inaccurate slurs in A , GE revisions , Inaccuracies in A

b. 413-421

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

Wedge in bar 413 in A

Dot in bar 413 in GE

No marks in FE (→EE)

Wedges in bars 413 & 421 suggested by the editors
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The wedge at the beginning of bar 413 was reproduced in GE as a dot. In FE (→EE) the sign was overlooked. No staccato mark in analogous bar 421 must be Chopin's oversight: it is the first bar on a new page of A, which was frequently related to various inaccuracies of notation.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: Errors in FE , Inaccuracies in GE , Wedges , Inaccuracies in A