mUltimate Chopin

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Annotations in FEJ

b. 38-43

composition: Op. 29, Impromptu in A♭ major

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We give Chopin's fingering inscribed into FES and FEJ.

category imprint: Differences between sources

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

b. 38

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

A dot extending the value of the note in A (→GE2)

No dot in GE1 (→FE→EE)

A variant written into FEJ

A variant written into GET
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In GE1 (→FE→EE) the dot extending b1 in the lower voice was omitted. Chopin extended the melodic movement of that voice in two different ways in FEJ and GET.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , Inaccuracies in GE , GE revisions , Annotations in FEJ , Annotations in GET

b. 41-54

composition: Op. 10 No 3, Etude in E major

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The deletions in bars 41-53, visible in FES and FEJ, are continuation of an abbreviation (which started in bar 36), facilitating an amateur performance of the Etude. In both copies, it was also the beginning of bar 54 that was modified, yet an accurate interpretation of Chopin's intention is not that easy there. The suggested interpretations do not exhaust all possibilities of interpretation of these entries.

The fingering written in FES – see the note to bars 41-42.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

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

b. 42

composition: Op. 10 No 6, Etude in E♭ minor

e1 tied in A, GE3 (→GE4→GE5), EE3 (→EE4) & FEJ

e1 repeated in FE (→EE2,GE1→GE2)
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The overlooked in FE (→EE2,GE1→GE2) tie sustaining e1 was added in the remaining editions. The sign was also added in FEJ.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , EE revisions , Errors in FE , GE revisions , Annotations in FEJ

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, 
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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