mUltimate Chopin

Op. 26 No 1, Polonaise in C♯ minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : EE revisions

b. 3

composition: Op. 26 No 1, Polonaise in C♯ minor

No staccato dots in A & in repetition FE (→GE1)

Staccato dots in FE (1st time) & EE,GE2 (→GE3→GE4→GE5) (1st & 2nd time)
..

The staccato dots for the 2nd chord are rather non-authentic. They were most probably added by the revisers, perhaps as a result of misinterpretation of A – one can see a minor fleck of ink between the beam and note head of the lowest note in the R.H. Moreover, the signs were added inconsistently: FE (→GE1) includes dots only the first time (in GE1 only over the R.H.), yet they are absent in the repetition. The revisers of EE and GE2 (→GE3→GE4→GE5) added dots in both situations.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , GE revisions , FE revisions

b. 6

composition: Op. 26 No 1, Polonaise in C♯ minor

 in A (→FE→GE1, first time)

 in FE (→GE1), first time & in GE2 (→GE3→GE4→GE5)

 in EE
..

The sources differ in the range of  hairpins. Taking into account various possibilities of interpretation of the not too carefully written signs in A (also in analogous bar 31) and a possibility of Chopin proofreading of FE (at the reappearance of this bar in the written repetition of bars 1-12), all three variants of the range of this sign can be considered to be potentially corresponding to Chopin's intention. In the main text we give the most possible interpretation of the hairpins of A.

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

issues: EE revisions , Inaccuracies in GE , Inaccuracies in FE , Scope of dynamic hairpins , GE revisions , Inaccuracies in A

b. 11

composition: Op. 26 No 1, Polonaise in C♯ minor

 in A

contextual interpretation of  in FE (→GE1);
 in EE & GE2 (→GE3→GE4→GE5)

 in FE (→GE1) on 2nd instance
..

In the main text we give the  hairpins on the basis of A. In FE1 (→GE1) they were reproduced differently the first and second time. According to us, the slightly longer sign printed the 1st time better conveys the idea of the hairpins of A and this is the version we adopt as the context interpretation of the text of these sources. It was interpreted in the same manner in EE and subsequent GE.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: EE revisions , Inaccuracies in FE , GE revisions

b. 13-79

composition: Op. 26 No 1, Polonaise in C♯ minor

..

In the editions, almost all signs of accents were represented as short accents – the engraver of FE (→GE1) correctly placed the only long accent in bar 63, yet in EE and GE2 (→GE3→GE4→GE5) it was changed to a short one. According to us, the notation of the majority of the accents of A clearly indicates their interpretation as long accents. Apart from the aforementioned, in the manuscript there is a specific for Chopin, rarely present sign of an inverted long accent – see bar 47.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Source & stylistic information

issues: Long accents , EE revisions , GE revisions , FE revisions

b. 26

composition: Op. 26 No 1, Polonaise in C♯ minor

..

We add a cautionary  next to b1. The sign is present only in EE.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Cautionary accidentals