It is not clear how the slurs of A at the beginning of bar 36 are to be interpreted. The solution suggested by the editors – both in this bar and in similar bars 38 and 40 – is based on the following conditions:
- Chopin considered the small notes of the harmonic filling as subject to the slurs defining the phrasing of the melodic line; moreover, he did not always mark the ending of the slurs accurately – see the characteristics of A;
-
the ending of the slur on the a
2 note does not raise any doubts in A in any of these three places, while in bars 36 and 38 it is marked almost demonstratively; in the case of the beginning of the next slur, it is not that clear; -
the caesura after the 1st semiquaver of the bar is indicated by the dynamic indication (
); also the position of the figuration in the 1st group of semiquavers in bar 36, not continuing directly the position of the previous chord, can be considered as a suggestion of such a division; - this is how the slurs of A were understood in GE1.
As far as the situation of the remaining sources is concerned, almost all these, in which the slur is broken in the discussed places, are closer to the solution suggested by us – starting the slur from the beginning of the bar means that the moment of breaking the slur falls only one semiquaver earlier and in one case (FE in bar 38) the slurs are the same as in our suggestion.
The change of slurring in GE2 (→GE3) is entirely arbitrary – not only were the slurs at the beginning of bar 36 combined, but they were also broken at the beginning of bar 35 and end of bar 36, most probably adjusting the slurring to the division of the text into lines. Similarly in the remaining two places.
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations
issues: Inaccurate slurs in A, GE revisions, Errors of CDP
notation: Slurs