mUltimate Chopin

Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description
Select: 
Category
All
Graphic ambiguousness
Interpretations within context
Differences between sources
Editorial revisions
Corrections & alterations
Source & stylistic information
Notation
All
Pitch
Rhythm
Slurs
Articulation, Accents, Hairpins
Verbal indications
Pedalling
Fingering
Ornaments
Shorthand & other
Importance
All
Important
Main
Undo Clear

b. 345-347

composition: Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

EE and GC

FE1

GE1 (contextual interpretation) and FE2 & GE2
..

A correct text of LH in these three bars is a result of revisions in FE2 and GE2. An error in b. 345 (repetition of g-f seventh) must have already been present in the autograph, proven by the consistency of EE and GC. In FE1 the correct text of bars 346-347 was printed, by mistake we suppose, in bars 345-346, which resulted in a repetition of g2-f3 seventh in bars 346-347. To keep octaves between dyads in these bars an actave sign was added in b. 347 (Chopin may have done hastily upon correction). In GE1 the seventh in b. 345 was elevated to the right pitch but on the upper note instead of two sharps there is only one printed.

 

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Errors in FE , Errors in EE , Errors in GE , GE revisions , FE revisions , Errors of GC

b. 347

composition: Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

..

In EE and GC there is no bass clef at the end of the bar. Given that both editions are the same, we may suspect Chopin to have made this mistake in [A1]. Since the chords of RH in b. 348 are notated on two staves, lack of the clef does not pose any problems for text interpretation (in EE b. 348 is printed as the new line of the text with the right clef at the beginning, which minimises the consequences of this omission). The clef was supplemented in GE. 

category imprint: Source & stylistic information

issues: GE revisions , EE inaccuracies , Errors of GC

b. 348

composition: Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

No marking in EE

 in GC (→GE) & FE
..

Lack of  in EE is either an omission or echoes one of the earlier stages of the Scherzo notation.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Errors in EE

b. 348-354

composition: Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

..

Since the bass clef was not reinstated in b. 347 in GC the treble clef is valid here (until the end of line in b. 354). This obvious error was corrected in GE.

category imprint: Source & stylistic information

issues: GE revisions , Errors of GC

b. 350

composition: Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

e1 in EE and FE

d1 in GC (→GE)
..

In GC the middle note of the last chord is notated inaccurately - even though it looks more like d1 (and it was read accordingly in GE), but it cannot be ruled out that the copyist meant to notate e1 based on the following:  

  • e1 in both EE and FE;
  • notating this note higher than clear d1 in the previous chord;  
  • Gutmann's tendency to write notes too low on the line - such inaccuracy appears in his copy three times more often than an opposite situation when a note below the line (or between the lines) is written too high. On the same page of GC we see examples of notes written too low (g) in bars 342 and 345.

Therefore, in the main text we present e1.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in GC