mUltimate Chopin

Op. 10 No 10, Etude in A♭ major

Text Compare Notes Sources Description
Select: 
Category
All
Graphic ambiguousness
Interpretations within context
Differences between sources
Editorial revisions
Corrections & alterations
Source & stylistic information
Notation
All
Pitch
Rhythm
Slurs
Articulation, Accents, Hairpins
Verbal indications
Pedalling
Fingering
Ornaments
Shorthand & other
Importance
All
Important
Main
Undo Clear

b. 76-77

composition: Op. 10 No 10, Etude in A♭ major

A

FE (→EE), literal reading

FE (→EE), suggested interpretation

GE
..

The main text includes the most natural version of A in terms of sound and pianistics. However, the exceptionally thick, spreading traces of the quill's strokes hinder the reading of A in this place, so the version of FE (→EE) differs significantly from the text of A. One's attention is drawn to the absence of stems extending some of the sounds (which can be however easily explained with an oversight) and the ambiguity related to it, as far as the meaning of the tie combining the last a in bar 76 with a relevant semibreve in bar 77 is concerned (in GE both the slur and the semibreve were omitted, which can be a mistake or a revision). The c1 note on the penultimate quaver also raises doubts – the engraver of FE (→GE,EE) could have discerned it on a thick and slightly bulging ledger line, used to write the a note. This version, even if it was not created as a result of Chopin's proofreading intervention, however, could have been accepted by him at the time of going over FE. 

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FE , Authentic corrections of FE , Uncertain notes on ledger lines

b. 76

composition: Op. 10 No 10, Etude in A♭ major

Minim a1 in A (→FE)

Dotted minim in GE1 (→GE2)

GE3 (→GE4)

Notation in EE
..

The simplified rhythmic notation of a1 on the 8th quaver in the bar used by Chopin in A (→FE) made the revisers of GE and EE to attempt its clarification or correction. The notation of EE strictly reproduces Chopin's intention, although at the expense of complicating the notation. In turn, in GE1 (→GE2) the addition of a dot extending the minim only replaced one imprecise notation with another. What is more, the notation provoked the reviser of GE3 (→GE4) to shift the minim to the 7th quaver, which practically eliminated this note being struck as part of the chord, totally distorting the figuration's contour in this place.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , GE revisions

b. 76

composition: Op. 10 No 10, Etude in A♭ major

Crotchet c1-e1 in A

Quaver in FE (→GE,EE)
..

The crotchet stem, visible in A, extending the c1-e1 third, was not included in any of the editions. Chopin's final intention is not entirely clear here, as the stem could refer to the original notation of a1 as a quaver or crotchet.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FE

b. 77

composition: Op. 10 No 10, Etude in A♭ major

Pause in A

Pauses suggested by the editors

No signs in FE (→GE,EE)
..

The missing fermata mark in FE (→GE,EE) is almost certainly an oversight of the engraver of FE. In the main text we add a relevant mark for the L.H. to the fermata written in A over the chord in the R.H. 

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: Errors in FE