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