mUltimate Chopin

Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : GE revisions

b. 129

composition: Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

Rhythm in EE & GC (→GE1)

Rhythm in FE & GE2
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Both versions of the rhythm in this bar are probably authentic. Identical differences in rhythm between those sources also occur in analogous bars 47 and 389. As the main text we give the version  of FE, perhaps the latest. The same version was also introduced in GE2.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , Inserted rest

b. 154-155

composition: Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

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 FE and GE have a double bar line between those bars. In the case of GE, this is definitely a revision (in GC, its base text, the bar line is single). This makes us suspect that the version of FE may also result from a routine editorial revision. Chopin used double bar lines infrequently and never treated them as necessarily connected with the change of key. 

category imprint: Source & stylistic information

issues: GE revisions , FE revisions

b. 156

composition: Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

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GC has the entire chord written in minims without dots. The error was corrected in GE.

category imprint: Source & stylistic information

issues: GE revisions , Errors of GC

b. 159-187

composition: Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

Slurs in EE & FE

Slurs in GC, possible contextual interpretation

Slurs in GE
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In GC, the beginnings of slurs in bars 159, 167, 175 and 183 are clearly placed above the 1st beat of the bar. Such notation may have been intended by Chopin in order to underline the four-bar resounding of the chords ending each one of the choral phrases. However, another possibility is that the notation is simply inaccurate here - there are many places in GC with imprecisely written slurs (and this is how the matter was generally interpreted in GE). As the main text we give the slurring of EE and FE, free of errors or doubts, where the slurs begin on the 2nd beat  together with quaver figurations. The issue occurs in other similar fragments that begin in bars 203, 291, 307, 453, 497.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , Inaccuracies in GC

b. 159

composition: Op. 39, Scherzo in C♯ minor

Pedalling in EE & GC

No markings in GE1

 in GE2

Pedalling in FE

Our suggestion
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Lack of pedal marking in GE1 is an obvious error. GE2 has  under the octave in bar 159, which is also obviously wrong. In the editors' opinion, also the premature release of the pedal in EE and GC is erroneous – in other similar situations the pedal remains depressed for at least 4 bars. Our proposal corresponds to the placement of the  mark that is most often seen in analogous places.  

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , Inaccuracies in GC