mUltimate Chopin

Op. 25 No 1, Etude in A♭ major

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : EE revisions

b. 1

composition: Op. 25 No 1, Etude in A♭ major

Title in AI & CDP

Title & dedication in A

Title & dedication in GE1 (→GE1a)

Title & dedication in GE2 (→GE3)

Title & dedication in FE

Title & dedication in EE1 & EE3

Title in EE2

Our suggestion
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In the main text we give the title and dedication in accordance with the title page of the entire opus in A (we develop the Mme and Csse abbreviations used in A) and FE. In A (→GE) and FE, the particular etudes are provided with an additional title, Etude, with a corresponding ordinal number, which we represent through the number preceding the score. In EE, the numbering includes 12 Etudes, Op. 10, hence this etude is No. 13.
In GE and EE, the title includes the number of etudes in the entire Op. 25, which could be related to the division of the entire opus into two books, 6 etudes each, performed in these editions. Nothing indicates that Chopin considered this information to be important, although in other opuses including groups of pieces (Mazurkas, Nocturnes, Polonaises, Preludes, Waltzes), he would generally give the number of pieces.
EE2 omits the dedication, as the individual title page was replaced with a collective one, common for all Chopin pieces published by Wessel; in EE3, the dedication was added above the score on the 1st page.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Dedications , GE revisions , Deletions in A

b. 1-3

composition: Op. 25 No 1, Etude in A♭ major

No fingering in AI, CDP, A (→GE), FE & EE1

Fingering in EE2 (→EE3)
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The fingering added in EE2 (→EE3) in bars 1 and 3 is certainly an addition of the revision. Therefore, despite its obvious accuracy, we give it in smaller, italicised font.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions

b. 6

composition: Op. 25 No 1, Etude in A♭ major

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In all manuscripts, FE and EE1 (→EE2) have no flats returning e2 and e1. This inaccuracy, so characteristic for Chopin, was corrected only in GE and EE3.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

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

b. 12

composition: Op. 25 No 1, Etude in A♭ major

No sign in AI, CDP & EE1 (→EE2)

 in A (→GE1), GE3 & EE3

  in GE1a (→GE2)

 in FE
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The longer hairpins in A may have concerned the renounced by Chopin (deleted in A) version where he would raise the fifth of the chord only on the 4th beat of the bar. In the main text, we give the hairpins corrected by Chopin in GE1a (→GE2). The version of GE3 is a result of a revision returning the state before the proofreading of GE1a; the version was introduced also in EE3.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: EE revisions , GE revisions , Authentic corrections of GE

b. 14-15

composition: Op. 25 No 1, Etude in A♭ major

Broken slur in AI, FE, EE2 (→EE3) & GE2 (→GE3)

Continuous slur in A (→GE1→GE1a) & EE1
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The compatibility of the slurring of AI and FE (here and in bars 15-16) is puzzling, as a coincidence seems to be highly unlikely. Chopin could have returned to the original slurring in the base text to FE or at the time of proofreading this edition, so the issue whether the long slur written in A is the expression of Chopin's final intention cannot be conclusively resolved.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: EE revisions , Chopin's hesitations , GE revisions