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During the course of the Polonaise, the bar was written by Chopin thrice, as bar 10, 18, and 37. The thirteen-note figure was written with the use of a conventional ornament sign (bar 10 in all sources, bar 37 in EF) or entirely written out in notes (bar 18 in all sources, bar 37 in JC and PE). Some elements of the second notation may raise doubts, as far as its meaning is concerned:
- an additional slur over the first three notes, separating them from the entire figure, suggesting their different meaning or performance;
- marking the described group with number 11, in spite of writing out thirteen notes (PE, bar 37).
Considering all the above mentioned details as significant leads to the conclusion that all those notations may indicate the same performance. One could also believe that Chopin's hesitation while writing this figure reflects a difficulty in an exact notation of the genuine rhythmic structure, in which, e.g., the first three notes are performed slightly faster than the remaining ones, making an impression of an unhurried, immersed into the whole mordent on the first b
of the eleven-note figure. Moreover, one also has to take into account possible errors (e.g., '11' instead of '13' in bar 37 in PE) or revisions (the notation with an ornament in bar 37 may be an arbitrary change introduced by Fontana).
However, those and other possibilities of explaining the observed discrepancies of notation must, according to us, remain within the sphere of unverifiable hypotheses. In the main text in bars 10 and 18 we give the version of PE, generally without any changes, while in bar 37 we change '11' into '13', as in practice all performers are guided by the notation's graphic image, rather than by the indicator of a group's number; the original notation simply makes an impression of erroneous.
category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources
notation: Ornaments
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