mUltimate Chopin

Op. 25 No 1, Etude in A♭ major

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Accompaniment changes

b. 1

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

A in AI

A1 in A (→CDP,GE), FE & EE
..

A greater schematic approach is generally characteristic for original versions, in this case AI. Lowering some bass notes or doubling them during the works on a piece is characteristic for Chopin – cf., e.g., the Etude in D major, No. 8, bars 25-26, Etude in D major, Dbop. 36 No. 3, bars 55-59, Waltz in A major, Op. 42, bar 31 and 273, Polonaise in E minor, Op. 26 No. 2, bars 103-104. 

See also the note to bar 36.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Accompaniment changes

b. 7

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

6 times b in AI

6 times a in A (→CDP,GE), FE & EE
..

In the first three figures the L.H. in AI has a b as the 3rd and 5th semiquavers. It is an earlier version, changed by Chopin still before writing A, in which the eventual version – with a – is already written in the final form.  

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Accompaniment changes

b. 7-8

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

AI

A (→CDP,GE), FE & EE
..

In AI in both bars the 3rd figure in the R.H. preserves the regular melodic shape, i.e. the last two notes of the sextuplet are the same as the second and third note. Chopin changed it in A (→GE), correcting the already written original version. The remaining sources also include the final version.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Deletions in A , Accompaniment changes

b. 8

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

a in AI

d1 in A (→CDP,GE), FE & EE
..

In A and the remaining sources, the a note, present in AI as the highest note of the 1st figure in the L.H., was replaced by d1. Only in FE the note is not provided with a cautionary flat.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Cautionary accidentals , Accompaniment changes

b. 30

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

..

The pencilled corrections visible in AI prove that originally, the 2nd half of this bar was identical as in bar 26.

category imprint: Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Accompaniment changes , Main-line changes