mUltimate Chopin

Op. 38, Ballade in F major

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b. 53

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

R.H. part in A (→FE,EE)

GC (→GE1→GE2)

GE3
..

In A the original beginning of the bar was the following:

Chopin changed it then to the version offered by FE and EE:

The above correction was also included in GC, however, in this copy Chopin himself changed this place one more time; the new version was printed on this basis in GE1 (→GE2). We consider this version as definitive with one reservation:  we add a  lowering e2 to e2, overlooked during the correction. The addition, not so obvious without knowledge of previous Chopin's corrections, was introduced only in GE3.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

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

b. 53-55

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

2 slurs in A (→FE,GC→GE)

Slur in bars 54-55 in EE
..

The incomplete and different slurring in EE results most probably from inaccuracy and mistakes by the engraver. The two-bar slur in bars 54-55 (and a similar one in bar 56-57) is placed over a figurate passage that resembles a uniform, ascending-descending arpeggio, and encompasses  a half of line. It has not much in common either with the slurs in A, or with the real phrasing.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Errors in EE

b. 54

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

..

We add the overlooked  raising f to f in the R.H. This patent oversight was corrected also in EE and GE.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Accidentals in different octaves , GE revisions , Omission of current key accidentals

b. 55-57

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

No slurs in A (→EE,GC→GE)

Slurs in FE
..

In A (→GC→GE,→EE) in bars 55 and 57 there are no slurs in the L.H. It is unclear how these undoubtedly justified slurs appeared already in FE1, which, due to a significant number of errors, seems to be a copy before any corrections.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Authentic corrections of FE

b. 55

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

Literal reading of A (→GC,FE1) – notes e

Notes e in FE2 (→FE3), EE & GE, contextual interpretation of A (→GC,FE1)
..

In A (→GC,FE1) there are no accidentals in this bar. The e notes, present in two previous bars and in a few subsequent ones, including in analogous bar 57, indicate here Chopin's omission of the flats lowering e to e, which is one of the most frequent errors he was known to commit. The conclusion is confirmed by the addition of a  lowering e3 to e3 in FE2 (→FE3). Two remaining necessary flats in this bar were added in FE3, yet one of them was misplaced before the upper note of the third, so it lowers g2 to g2 (the error is corrected by a pencilled entry in FED, cf. also bar 57). In GE and EE all three necessary flats were added.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , EE revisions , Errors in FE , Annotations in FED , Errors resulting from corrections , Terzverschreibung error , GE revisions , Omission of current key accidentals , FE revisions