In the entire 1st movement of the Sonata such four-quaver figures appear in the L.H. part on a number of occasions; in addition to the discussed bars, they are also in bar 23, 25, 27-28, 31-33, 37, 39, 159-169 and 203. In all these places the slurs are written carelessly, often starting on the 2nd or even on the 3rd quaver (e.g. the 2nd slur in bar 23). The fact that Chopin meant half-bar slurs in all these cases is proven by the following arguments:
- Similar structure and context of these figures, serving as a harmonic background, which excludes possible different performance versions (starting the slurs from the 2nd quaver could have actually impacted only the phrasing of these motifs, since the legato articulation between the first two quavers is guaranteed by the first value being a minim).
- Some slurs clearly starting from the 1st quaver, e.g. the 2nd one in bar 17, the 1st one in bar 19, 27 and 28.
A similar reasoning allows us to consider some other slurs to be intentionally beginning from the 1st note as well, e.g. in bars 21-22, 171 or 187-188.
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category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Source & stylistic information
issues: Inaccurate slurs in A, GE revisions
notation: Slurs