mUltimate Chopin

Issues : Authentic corrections in GC

b. 150

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

A (→GC,FE1) has no naturals before the upper notes of the 4th and 12th semiquaver (b¹ and b²). This inaccuracy, characteristic of Chopin, was gradually corrected in FE – the first was added in FE2, the second in FE3. All these sources have no before the 7th L.H. note, b. This, however, is not an error because a b in the 2nd R.H. semiquaver is placed with the appropriate on the lower staff. The remaining editions have a fully correct text.
Moreover, in the main text we remove the repeated before g¹ in the 8th semiquaver, present in all the sources.

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category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Accidentals in different octaves , Omission of current key accidentals , Authentic corrections of FE , Authentic corrections in GC , Inaccuracies in A

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b. 151

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

A (→FE1) has no accidentals in this bar. Chopin added the overlooked naturals before the 3rd L.H. octave (B-b) in GC (→GE) and FE2 (→FE3). The signs were also added in EE, most probably by analogy with bar 149.

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category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Omission of current key accidentals , Errors of A , Authentic corrections of FE , Authentic corrections in GC

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b. 152

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

In A (→GC,FE) the raising b¹ to b¹ is only written before the 8th semiquaver, and there is no raising b to b in the L.H. Chopin wrote in the latter in GC (→GE), it was also added in FE3 and EE. The notation of the R.H. was supplemented in EE and GE, but only EE removed the then superfluous in the 2nd half of the bar.

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category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Accidentals in different octaves , GE revisions , Omission of current key accidentals , FE revisions , Authentic corrections in GC , Inaccuracies in A

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b. 171

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

No slur in A (→FE1,EE)

Slur from 2nd semiquaver in GC (contextual interpretation)

Slur from 1st to last semiquaver in GC (possible interpretation→GE)

Slur from 1. semiquaver to next bar in FE2 (→FE3)

Based on the slurs added most probably by Chopin in GC and FE2 (→FE3), the absence of the slur in A is probably an oversight of the composer, perhaps related to the transition to a new page in A. However, the range of the slur is questionable:

The beginning of the slur is unclear in GC. The composer's corrections in A in bars 169-170 militate in favour of beginning the slur from the 1st semiquaver – Chopin would move beginnings of slurs from the 1st to the 2nd semiquaver in similar figures. According to us, the counterargument in the form of the slur of FE2 is of less importance, since the text in that edition is so dense that the engraver could have easily misinterpreted a Chopinesque proofreading entry.
The ending of the slur is also dubious – both in GC and FE, the discussed bar ends the page, and the slur, which suggests continuation, is either deprived of continuation in the next bar (FE) or starts from the 1st semiquaver (GC). We consider a continuous slur to be much more likely in such a homogeneous notation, and this is how we interpret both GC and FE2.