mUltimate Chopin

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Centrally placed marks

b. 111

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

 in A (→EE,GC→GE)

No marking in FE
..

The  marking extends in A from the last quaver in bar 111 to the first chord in bar 112, so that FE put it only in bar 112. In the editors opinion, it is GC (→GE) and EE who conveyed Chopin's intention correctly – if he had wanted the marking to apply only from bar 112, there would have been no reason to start writing so much earlier in the previous bar. See also bar 136.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Centrally placed marks

b. 128

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

 mid-bar in FE (→EE,GE1→GE2)

 at beginning of bar in GE3
..

According to us, a comparison with the dynamic markings in analogous bars 132, 136 and 140 points to an inaccurate placement of the ​​​​​​​ mark in the majority of the sources. The reason could have been the fact that [A] used a convention of placing indications within their scope of validity, and not at the beginning. Therefore, in the main text we include the shift of the mark adopted in GE3.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , Centrally placed marks

b. 132

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

 on 2nd quaver in FE (→EE)

 at beginning of bar in GE
..

A comparison with the dynamic markings in analogous bars 136 and 140 points to an inaccurate placement of the ​​​​​​​ mark in FE (→EE). In the main text, we take into account the shift of the mark adopted in GE. 

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

issues: Inaccuracies in FE , GE revisions , Centrally placed marks

b. 177

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

..

One can ponder whether the placement of the staccato indication only just in the 2nd half of the bar is not an example of the Chopinesque manner of placing indications within their range of validity. In other words, whether one should not perform the entire chromatic sequence in this bar staccato. According to us, no – such placed indication most probably means that the first few notes are to be performed legato and then the articulation is to be gradually changed, so that the last few notes are clearly performed staccato. There is a similar situation in bar 532.  

category imprint: Source & stylistic information

issues: Centrally placed marks

b. 191-192

composition: Op. 50 No. 3, Mazurka in C♯ minor

in AI & AF (→FE→EE)
..

 in AF is written at the end of b. 191; it undoubtedly concerns the semiquaver that closes the bar too. This is how it was interpreted in FE (→EE), in which the indication was placed – in accordance with usual practices – slightly before the semiquaver. This is the notation we give in the main text. The notation of AI resembles the one of AF, although the indication is moved slightly to the right. In turn, in GE1 the greater part of  is already in b. 192, which was revised in GE2 by placing the entire mark in b. 192, as a result of which it seems to concern only the crotchets in this bar. It cannot correspond to Chopin's intention, who would sometimes use a previous manner of placing indications within and not at the beginning of their scope.  

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , Centrally placed marks