Issues : Dedications

b. 1

composition: Op. 10 No 1, Etude in C major

in CLI

in FE1

in FE2

in GE1

GE1a (→GE2GE3GE4GE5)

in EE2 (→EE3)

in EE4

..

In the main text we give the title as adopted in FE and confirmed in the engraver's copy of several Etudes (No. 5-8 and 12). The title included in CLI, although earlier, is also authentic – Chopin himself described in this way one of his etudes in a letter to a friend – and reflects Chopin's pragmatic approach to the issue of the pieces' names (cf. the original title of Berceuse Op. 57, "Variants"). Therefore, it is hard to assume that the extended titles of GE and EE were something more than a marketing ploy of the publishers, which, after all, were gladly used also in case of other genres, e.g., in waltzes, in which the authentic titles were extended with different adjectives: 'grande' in Op. 18, 24, 42, 'brillante' in Op. 34, 'nouvelle' in Op. 42 (see also Etudes Op. 25).

We also give this dedication in the version of FE (→GE). Its extension in EE seems to be rather an idea of the publisher who, however, could have agreed it with Chopin. Apart from FE1 (→EE2EE3), the erroneous initial of Liszt's name (J) also appears in some copies of FE2 and GE1.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Errors in FE , Dedications , GE revisions , Various titles