A
Main text
A - Autograph
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French edition
FE2 - Corrected impression of FE1
FEJ - Jędrzejewicz copy
FES - Stirling copy
GE - German edition
GE1 - First German edition
GE2 - Revised impression of GE1
EE - English edition
EE1 - First English edition
EE2 - Corrected impression of EE1
compare
  b. 1-6

In bars 1-2 and 5-7 the opening sequence of the Fantasy is written down in FCs with the use of one-part notation, without the L.H. part. Moreover, nothing points to the fact that the motifs should be doubled in the lower octave; however, it is highly likely:

  • All stems are pointing upwards, although Chopin would generally write stems under noteheads. This suggests that space was left for the L.H. part (below the written-down line).
  • No rests for the part of the second hand.
  • This phrase having been texturally diversified in bars 11-12, in which the melody is doubled and sometimes even tripled in lower octaves, is natural only when both hands perform in unison already in bars 1-2 and 5-7. Otherwise the contrast seems too considerable and unjustified by the phrase development.

See also bar 7.

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Source & stylistic information

issues: Bass register changes

notation: Pitch

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Original in: Biblioteka Narodowa, Warsaw