mUltimate Chopin

Op. 10 No 10, Etude in A♭ major

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Errors of A

b. 5-8

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

..

In the 2nd four-bar section Chopin wrote the accidentals less carefully. In A (→FE) there are no naturals before b2 in bar 5 and d3 in bars 7-8. These patent oversights were corrected in GE and EE (in EE3 the  in bar 7 was not completed).

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Accidentals in different octaves , GE revisions , Errors of A

b. 8

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

e2 in A (→FE) (literal reading)

e2 in GE & EE
..

A lacking  before the penultimate quaver is most probably a mistake by Chopin. The accidental was added by the revisers in both GE and EE.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Omissions to cancel alteration , GE revisions , Errors of A

b. 23

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

Contextual interpretation of A (→FE→EE3)—a1 & a2

a1 & a2 in GE & EE4
..

Lack of accidentals before the 5th pair of quavers in A (→FE→EE3) means that Chopin forgot to put either a  next to the 9th quaver (a1) or a  next to the upper note of the following sixth (a2). The former possibility seems to be much more likely:

  • such errors belong to the most common ones in case of Chopin (see the issue "Omissions to cancel alteration");
  • in the scale melodic passages of this Etude Chopin would insert chromatic tones between the tones of the current key and not instead of them;
  • in analogous bar 35 the  returning d2 was added, probably by Chopin, in the last proofreading of FE (→EE).

The revisers of GE and EE4 added a  before the upper note of the sixth.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , GE revisions , Errors of A

b. 35

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

d2 & d3— contextual interpretation of A, and FE (→EE)

d2 & d3 in GE
..

Lack of accidentals before the 5th pair of quavers in A means that Chopin either forgot to put a  next to the upper note of the sixth (d3), or a  one quaver earlier (d2). In a proofreading of FE (→EE) a flat was added, which is most probably a result of Chopin's intervention. Due to this fact, we give this version in the main text. In GE the flat was not included (probably it was not yet present in the proof copy of FE on which GE was based), yet a  raising d2 to d3 was added. According to us, it is a revision, otherwise justified with the observation of Chopin's notation in this Etude, in which omissions of accidentals before the sixths' upper notes occur very frequently (e.g., in bars 5-8).

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Omissions to cancel alteration , GE revisions , Errors of A , Authentic corrections of FE

b. 37-38

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

..

The notation of accidentals in these bars is very careless in A, although it does not lead to textual doubts. In bar 37 Chopin omitted the flats before the 1st (g), 2nd (g1) and 9th (c1) notes in the L.H. and before the upper note (c4) of the sixth on the 2nd quaver in the R.H. Moreover, the  lowering g2 to g2 is written only before the last quaver in the R.H. In bar 38 there are no flats before the 4th (g) and 5th (g1) notes in the L.H. In FE only the first necessary flats in the parts of both hands in bar 37 and a cautionary  before c2 in bar 38 were added. In GE all necessary signs and a superfluous  before c3 on the 8th quaver in bar 37 were added. In turn, the cautionary  in bar 38 was not included, which probably means that it was added during the last stage of proofreading of FE. EE also has the correct notation, including the aforementioned natural. At the same time, EE3 gives only the necessary signs, while in EE4 two unnecessary flats featured in GE were also added.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

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