Main text
Main text
A - Autograph
GE - German edition
GE1 - First German edition
GE2 - Second German edition
GE3 - Revised impression of GE2
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French edition
FED - Dubois copy
FES - Stirling copy
EE - English edition
EE1 - First English edition
EE3 - Revised impression of EE1
compare
  b. 11

In A (→GEFEEE), both here and in analogous bars  51, 59 there is a   before a1. As Chopin used cautionary signs very sparsely, inserting that  three times in that context makes one wonder what cautionary purpose Chopin exactly wanted it to serve. Two possibilities, not mutually exclusive, come to mind:

  1. together with the C minor chord Chopin heard the entire C minor key, including a flat, quite natural occurring in G minor as well;
  2. the caution was connected with that particular chord, used in its altered version many times by Chopin (the most famous instance being the coda of Scherzo in B minor Op. 20, bars 594-599).

The question of that  comes up in a number of places in various works in which the notation suggests that in minor keys the Phrygian second was something very natural for Chopin, particularly in the context of the subdominant.

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Editorial revisions

issues: Cautionary accidentals

notation: Pitch

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