GE
Main text
A - Autograph
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French edition
FE2 - Corrected impression of FE1
FED - Dubois copy
FEJ - Jędrzejewicz copy
FES - Stirling copy
GE - German edition
GE1 - First German edition
GE2 - Second German edition
GE3 - Third German edition
GE4 - Fourth German edition
EE - English edition
EE3 - Corrected impression of [EE2]
EE4 - Revised impression of EE3
compare
  b. 33-34

 in A

Two  in FE

 in GE1

  twice in EE

  in GE2 (→GE3GE4)

Our suggestion

In A Chopin wrote the last section of the Etude (from bar 33) without detailed pedal marks. The pairs of  and  marks are only in bars 52-53, apart from this there are only  marks in bars 33, 44, 46 and 54. Their sense is easy to guess:

  • bar 33 =  come prima;
  • bars 44 and 46 – underlining the hold of the bass note E in the places which had not already appeared in the Etude; lack of more detailed indications probably stems from the fact that Chopin gave a detailed pedalling in a similar situation in bars 25-28;
  • bar 54 – lack of  at the end of a piece is a frequent phenomenon in Chopin's works.

In FE the pedalling underwent a few changes, some of which may certainly be attributed to the engraver's inaccuracy (and to the lack of space) – lack of  in bar 53 and  in bar 54. However, an oversight cannot be an option in a situation where the signs were added –  in bar 34 and  in bar 45. Before we discuss these two cases, let us pay attention to the pedalling of GE1, in which apart from a routine addition of  in bar 47,  in bar 33 was omitted. According to us, it may be the key to solve the issue of pedal additions in a proofreading of FE:

  • initially, the  mark was printed in FE, probably by mistake, only in bar 34, which was repeated in GE;
  • in the last proofreading of FE1 (→EE) Chopin added a  mark there where he considered it to be necessary, hence in bar 33, leaving unchanged the accidental mark in bar 34, as it does not lead to a performance error;
  • the addition of  in bar 45 was probably a routine action of the engraver, similarly as in bar 12.

Taking into consideration the aforementioned findings and arguments, in the main text we suggest a completed version of the marks of A.

In EE and subsequent GE,s the  marks were added in all the places where they were missing after  marks.

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions, Inaccuracies in GE, GE revisions, Authentic corrections of FE, No pedal release mark, Inaccuracies in A

notation: Pedalling

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