mUltimate Chopin

Op. 24 No. 4, Mazurka in B♭ minor

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b. 1

composition: Op. 24 No. 4, Mazurka in B♭ minor

Title and dedication in A (→GE1)

EE1 and EE3

EE2
..

The replacement of 4 Mazurkas with Quatre Mazurkas does not change the authentic title. However, the addition to the title in EE is definitely inauthentic; the English editor used to add the expression Souvenir de la Pologne to each consecutive opus of Chopin's Mazurkas. In EE2 the dedication was omitted.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Dedications

b. 1

composition: Op. 24 No. 4, Mazurka in B♭ minor

Slur beginning in A (→GE)

Slur beginning in FE (→EE)
..

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FE

b. 3

composition: Op. 24 No. 4, Mazurka in B♭ minor

..

A  heightening g1 to g1 is missing from all the sources. The use of g1 between f1 and g1 is so obvious in this context that the error went unnoticed for several dozen years.  

category imprint: Editorial revisions; Source & stylistic information

issues: Errors of A , Last key signature sign

b. 4-5

composition: Op. 24 No. 4, Mazurka in B♭ minor

Slur in A (literal reading)

Slur in A (interpretation→GE→FE)

Possible reading of slurs in FE (→EE)
..

Strictly speaking, the slurs in A may be read in two different ways. The interpretation of GE adopted in the main text underlines both the continuity of the musical thought from the beginning of the work and the moment when the actual theme begins. The same idea was probably behind the imprecise notation of FE, yet it was interpreted differently in EE.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FE , Inaccurate slurs in A

b. 5-6

composition: Op. 24 No. 4, Mazurka in B♭ minor

The slur end in  A (→GE→FE→EE)

The editors' proposition
..

The slur in A finally trails off shortly after the minim d flat2, yet we clearly see that Chopin ran out of ink, which suggests that the slur was meant to reach slightly further. This guess finds confirmation in longer slurs in the analogous bars 8 and 10. We resolve the question of whether those slurs reach the semiquaver or extend to the crotchet on the 2nd beat of the bar in favour of the latter option, as those slurs are actually more phrase marks than articulation slurs. 

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccurate slurs in A