Op. 38, Ballade in F major

  b. 196

		b, b2 & b3 in A (→GC→GE, →FE1→FE2)
		b, b2 & b3 in FE3 & EE
		b, b2 & b3 in our suggestion

We do not take into consideration the naturals restoring b, b² and b³ in the 2nd half of the bar, added in FE3 and EE, in the main text. The majority of the arguments supports the assumption that the version written in A, featuring b, b² and b³, is not only intended by Chopin but final:

• This version is featured in all sources of unquestionable authenticity – A, GC, corrected by Chopin, and FE2, proofread by Chopin. In turn, the version featuring b, b² and b³ is included in two editions in the preparation of which Chopin's participation is dubious (FE3) or excluded (EE). At the same time, the change introduced in EE proves that the fact of adding naturals in this place could have been considered by a professional reviser to be a standard procedure rectifying a composer's oversight. 
• The notation of A excludes a possible oversight of the naturals by Chopin, otherwise quite likely in similar situations. It is proven by deletion of the sign from before one of the bottom notes of the last chord in the L.H. The deletion is accurate enough so that one cannot read which sign was removed, yet the very deletion proves that Chopin checked the chromatic orthography in this place, thus confirming b (b², b³) as intended elements of the chord. The respective deletion in GC, less accurate, allows us to identify the deleted sign as a flat. 

At this point, we may wonder what we can learn from the absence of corrections in teaching copies in this respect. Generally, missing annotations are a weak argument: in a number of pieces, we encounter even serious mistakes left uncorrected, in spite of Chopinesque annotations being present in other places of a composition. In this case, it is particularly noteworthy that Chopin corrected neither the version with b (in FEJ) nor with b (in FES). However, a possible approval of the printed text may be indicated only by FEJ, in which a  added by Chopin is on the same page as the discussed bar (in bar 185). In FES, the annotations are only in the initial fragment in F major, and the cross put at the end of it almost certainly means that Miss Stirling simply did not perform the further part of the Ballade.

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions; Corrections & alterations

issues: EE revisions, Deletions in A, FE revisions, Authentic corrections in GC

notation: Pitch

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