mUltimate Chopin

Op. 38, Ballade in F major

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Inaccuracies in FE

b. 75

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

..

FE overlooks the  lowering e2 to e2 in the R.H.

category imprint: Interpretations within context

issues: Inaccuracies in FE

b. 89-92

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

Slur in A (→EE)

Slur in GC, literal interpretation

Slur in FE

No slur in GE
..

In GC bars 89-90 end the line of text. This caused the copyist to have erroneously omitted the opening part of the slur – he wrote only the ending fragment in bars 91-92. In GE this fragmentary slur was overlooked or omitted. For the joining of the slur in FE to the preceding one see the note in bar 88.
In A, the way the slur ends makes it clearly a "tenuto-slur". This was properly rendered only in EE. See also the note in bar 92.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FE , Errors in GE , Inaccuracies in GC , Errors of GC

b. 92-93

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

 in A (→EE)

 in GC i FE

in EE

 in GE
..

The shortening of the  sign in FE is rather certainly the result of the text's layout – bar 93 starts a new line. However, it is difficult to establish the cause for the shortening of the sign in GC. The copyist could e.g. have mistaken these bars with bars 94-95 where A has a shorter sign. We regard the inaccuracies – in relation to the Stichvorlage – of the hairpins in GE and EE as the effect of a routine adjusting of the signs to the rhythmical structures. We give the A notation in the main text.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in GE , Inaccuracies in FE , Scope of dynamic hairpins , EE inaccuracies , Inaccuracies in GC

b. 92-94

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

Slur in A (literal reading→FE,EE)

Slur in A, contextual interpretation

Slur in GC (→GE)
..

The ending of slur in bar 94 is unclear in A – Chopin probably meant a "tenuto slur" as in the first half of bar 92. However, it cannot be ruled out that it is the shorter slur in FE and EE which correctly conveys Chopin's intention. The earlier beginning of slur in GC (→GE) is certainly a result of copyist's inattentiveness.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FE , GE revisions , EE inaccuracies , Inaccuracies in GC

b. 95

composition: Op. 38, Ballade in F major

Long accent in A

No mark in GC (→GE)

in FE

Short accent in EE
..

The typical long accent in A was misrepresented in FE (as a diminuendo hairpin) and EE (as a short accent). In GC (→GE) the sign was overlooked.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Long accents , Inaccuracies in FE , EE inaccuracies , Errors of GC