mUltimate Chopin

Op. 38, Ballade in F major

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : GE revisions

b. 119-120

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

Beginning of slur in A (→GC,EE)

Beginning of slur in FE

Beginning of slur in GE
..

Nothing indicates that the delayed start of slur In FE and GE could be authentic. The engravers or revisers possibly tried to avoid beginning a slur on a tied note. In case of GE, the inauthentic slur could have resulted from the inaccurate notation of GC wherein bar 120 starts a new line with a slur running from the first note, therefore as in GE. However, this does not justify omitting the clearly written opening fragment of the slur in bar 119.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , FE revisions

b. 124

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

..

In A (→EE,GC→GE1), the first note in the R.H. lower part mistakenly has the value of a minim. The error was rectified in FE and GE2(→GE3).

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , Rhythmic errors , FE revisions , Errors repeated in GE , Errors repeated in EE

b. 125-126

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

 in A (→GC,FE)

in EE

in GE
..

The  hairpin under the L.H. motif in bars 125-126 is shorter than in similar situations, which must have resulted from the transition to a new page. In the main text we give a longer mark modelled after the previous bars; such a version is included also in GE. In the remaining editions the hairpin was shortened with respect to the notation of A, which could not have been intended by Chopin.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: Scope of dynamic hairpins , GE revisions , EE inaccuracies

b. 127

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

Crotchet g1 in A (→FE,EE)

Quaver g1 in GC (→GE)
..

As in analogous bar 102, the rhythm in the upper voice of the R.H. has two versions in the sources. In the main text we present the version of GC (→GE). This time the correction is inaccurate – Chopin added a quaver flag to the g1 note but   forgot the rest, as a result of which the bar in the upper voice has only 5 quavers. The obvious mistake was corrected in GE.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Errors resulting from corrections , GE revisions , Authentic corrections in GC

b. 127-128

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

d1 tied in A (→FE,EE) & GE3

d1 repeated in GC (→GE1→GE2)
..

The tie sustaining d1 over the bar-line was omitted in GC (GE1→GE2) – the copyist might have taken it for deleted. It was only added in GE3.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , Errors of GC