GE1a - Corrected reprint of GE1
| Publisher: | Breitkopf & Härtel |
| Date: | XI 1837⇒ |
| Plate number: | 5832 |
| Title: | Douze Etudes || 1re Etude |
| Dedication: | Madame la Comtesse d'Agoult |
Corrected impression of GE1, published probably soon after it due to a few important changes introduced in GE1a at Chopin's order. The most important changes between the first two impressions of GE are:
- additions and correction of dynamic hairpins in bar 4, 7, 10 and 12;
- separation of the tenor voice in bars 17-18 and 19;
- harmonic changes in bar 21 (also in the R.H.);
- enharmonic change of g
1 to a
1 in bar 22.
The above changes certainly or very likely come from Chopin. However, it does not have to mean that Chopin proofread a copy of GE1 and introduced his corrections there – see the characteristics of GE1. Chopin proofreading of GE1a was unusual also for the reason that it concerned only this Etude (and only the first two pages) – the remaining five etudes in this book, as well as the second book, do not include any changes at all in the note text. In particular, GE1a did not correct the errors mentioned in the descriptions of GE1 neither in this nor in the following Etudes (cf. e.g. the Etude in F minor No. 2, bar 9 or the Etude in G minor No. 6, bar 4 and analogous and bar 5). It means that while introducing Chopin corrections on the first two pages of the Etude in Amajor, the editor did not have a possibility, or perhaps he did not see the need to deal with the remaining part of the book. This leads to the conclusion that a significant number of the already printed copies of GE1 was not sold at that moment, which, in turn, confirms the expressed above possible dating of GE1a.
GE1a was provided with a slightly differing covers, in particular the copies from 1841 and later have a changed price (15 Ngr instead of 12 Gr). From 1841, particular Etudes were edited separately, provided with a collective cover including 12 etudes each by Chopin, Henselt and Thalberg.
Taking into account the fact that the changes introduced in GE1a appear only on the first two pages of the Etude, including bars 1-24, starting from bar 25, we consider this impression as part of GE1 and in the detailed notes we do not include them when mentioning the sources.
| Original in: | The Fryderyk Chopin Institute Library, Warsaw |
| Shelf-mark: | 4259/n |