mUltimate Chopin

Op. 25 No 2, Etude in F minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Chopin's hesitations

b. 1

composition: Op. 25 No 2, Etude in F minor

c2 repeated in AT, AW, GC (→GE), FE & EE

c2 tied in CDP
..

The version of CDP may be a mistake – the copyist could have, e.g., misinterpret the extension of the phrase slur in [A]. However, it cannot be excluded that it is an authentic version, as the slur could have been included in  [A], where Chopin deleted it afterwards.  

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Chopin's hesitations

b. 3-4

composition: Op. 25 No 2, Etude in F minor

  in AT

No signs in AW

  in CDP

  in GC (→GE), FE & EE
..

In practice, the differences in the range of the dynamic hairpins, in spite of being quite significant, are of minimal influence on the interpretation of these signs. Lack of hairpins in AW may be a proof of Chopin's inadvertence rather than hesitation.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Chopin's hesitations

b. 3

composition: Op. 25 No 2, Etude in F minor

..

Chopin hesitated whether to put cautionary flats before d1 and d3. The signs are included in the earliest source (AT) and in the published version, including GC (→GE), FE and EE. In turn, in CDP there is only the second of them, while AW included the first one (in the L.H.), yet Chopin eventually deleted it. Despite this fact, in the main text we give exactly this , returned in the later sources and, according to us, justified.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Chopin's hesitations , Cautionary accidentals , Deletions in A , Last key signature sign

b. 62

composition: Op. 25 No 2, Etude in F minor

c2 in AW

a1 in CDP, GC (→GE), FE & EE
..

AW reveals Chopin's hesitation, as far as the pitch of the 2nd crotchet is concerned: next to the eventually left c2 note, one can see the previously deleted both a1 and c2. In the main text we give a1 featured in CDP, GC (→GE), FE and EE, yet in this situation the version with c2 may be considered as almost equal.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Chopin's hesitations , Deletions in A

b. 63

composition: Op. 25 No 2, Etude in F minor

..

In AW the first crotchet was originally an a2, which Chopin changed to b2. At the same time, the consequences of the change were not checked – there was still a  before the 2nd quaver (a2), superfluous in the new situation, while b2 was not returned on the 6th quaver. Preparing the piece for print, the composer returned to the initial notation.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Chopin's hesitations , Enharmonic corrections