AI
Main text
AI - Working autograph
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
GE1a - Corrected impression of GE1
GE2 - Second German edition
GE3 - Third German edition
GE4 - Fourth German edition
GE5 - Fifth German edition
EE - English edition
EE2 - First English edition
EE3 - Corrected impression of EE2
EE4 - Revised impression of EE3
compare
  b. 2-10

No mark in AI & A

Short accent in FE (→GE,EE)

Long accent suggested by the editors

The accents in bars 2 and 10, added by Chopin in a proofreading of FE (→GE,EE), were reproduced in the editions as short. It may be a result of misunderstanding of Chopin entry – normalised long accents were not used in music editions back then, and for a long time after that (cf. the Etude in A minor, No. 2, bars 25-26 and 8 and 12). The problem of choosing the right form of accents is very frequent in this Etude – many accents of A suggest, with their shape or size, the use of a short accent, despite the melodic context typical for long accents. According to us, it can be related to a visible evolution of the character of the extreme parts of the piece, which was most visibly expressed in the change of the tempo indication – in A it was still Vivace non troppo – yet also in the fact of increasing the number of detailed performance indications, including accents. Hence, it cannot be excluded that the shorter, than one could suppose, signs were related to a faster tempo and less exposed lyrical expression of the theme.

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Long accents, Authentic corrections of FE

notation: Articulation, Accents, Hairpins

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