Four authentic versions of these bars (marked with numbers 1-4) are divided into two pairs, differing with the chords' span: "open" versions Nos. 1 and 3 and "close" versions Nos. 2 and 4. It is highly likely that it was exactly the hesitation between the open ending, which corresponds to the entire Ballade as far as the sound is concerned, and the close one, not exceeding the mood of the last few bars (from tempo primo), that was the reason for so many changes in this fragment.
Among the open versions the version No. 3, written by Chopin into GC in the form of corrections to the version No. 2 written by the copyist, is actually later than the version No. 1, yet it contains a pitch error (C1 instead of E1 in bar 203) and three obvious examples of stylistic clumsiness:
- doubling the leading note g
-g1 in bar 203; - no resolution of g to a;
- two-octave leap from e in bar 202 to E1 in bar 203.
Therefore, it is concluded that: whereas the fact of Chopin's performing corrections in GC is an expression of his unquestionable intention to go from the close version to the open one, the result of these corrections, being probably a result of haste at the time of their introduction, cannot be deemed as final. Hence it is the version No. 1 that renders Chopin's idea most perfectly.
Among the close versions it is the version No. 4 that must be considered as final, introduced by Chopin in a proofreading of FE2 instead of the version No. 2.
In the main text we adopted the open version No. 1, matching the entire Ballade, as performing the changes of the close version in a proofreading of FE2, Chopin could have felt uncomfortable with introducing too far reaching changes in print. In the variant form we also include the grace note added in GC, characteristic for Chopin.
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information
issues: Corrections in A, Chopin's hesitations, Errors resulting from corrections, Terzverschreibung error, Deletions in A, Authentic corrections of FE, Errors of GC, Authentic corrections in GC
notation: Pitch