



Comparing this bar with its counterparts, bar 74 and 241, one can ponder whether Chopin did not commit a mistake by adding a to the bottom note of the 1st quaver, which changed it from b
1 to b1. This was the opinion of, among others, the majority of the editors of later collective editions of Chopin's works. A mistake consisting in writing two identical accidentals instead of different ones to simultaneously played notes can be assumed, e.g. in the Mazurka in A minor, Op. 59 No. 1, bar 112 (c1 instead of c
1). The fact that the A notation is free of mistakes is proven by the
restoring b
1 at the beginning of the 2nd half of the bar. It is also worth mentioning that if Chopin wanted to have a b
1 note here, he would not have had any reason to write any accidental to this note. Except the misleading orthography – b1 instead of c
2 – this version is perfectly correct, harmonically speaking, since the accompaniment in the 1st half of the bar is based on a ninth chord with a minor c
1 ninth. Such enharmonically mixed notation is not unusual in Chopin's pieces, cf., e.g. the Ballade in G minor, Op. 23, bars 156-157 or the Concerto in E minor, Op. 11, II mov., bar 78. There are also many examples in which Chopin cares more about the convenience of reading, e.g. natural size of intervals (in this case a third, and not a second) or other factors, than the harmonic accuracy.
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category imprint: Differences between sources
issues: GE revisions
notation: Pitch