mUltimate Chopin

Op. 25 No 4, Etude in A minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Long accents

b. 9-10

composition: Op. 25 No 4, Etude in A minor

Different accents in A

Short accents in FC (→GE), FE & EE

Long accents alternatively suggested by the editors
..

It is not entirely clear which type of accents Chopin had in mind in these bars (similarly in bars 39-40). The second of them is undoubtedly a long accent, yet the first one, in spite of a seemingly analogous situation, can hardly be considered to be such an accent. As the notation of accents in the Etudes is not very precise, we consider it to be acceptable to see both signs as long accents.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Long accents , Inaccuracies in FC

b. 19-22

composition: Op. 25 No 4, Etude in A minor

Different accents in A

Short accents in FC (→GE) & FE

Vertical accents in EE
..

The varied accents – long over crotchets and short over quavers – are written in A. However, it must be stated that the difference is not obvious at first glance and was not reproduced in any of the remaining sources.
The use of vertical accents is certainly an arbitrary decision of the engraver of EE (cf., e.g., the Etude in F major, No. 3, bars 29-31).

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Long accents

b. 39-40

composition: Op. 25 No 4, Etude in A minor

Different accents in A

Short accent in FC (→GE)

Short accents in EE

Long accents alternatively suggested by the editors
..

The question of type of accents written here by Chopin in A (→FE) – short or long – see bars 9-10. The missing accent in FC (→GE) in bar 40 is certainly a mistake – perhaps the copyist was not sure how to interpret the impressively written long accent in A.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Long accents , Errors of FC

b. 52-54

composition: Op. 25 No 4, Etude in A minor

Different accents in A, less probable reading

Różne akcentyDifferent accents in A, more probable reading

Different accents in FC

Short accents in FE & GE

Different accents in EE
..

It is not clear which type of accents Chopin had in mind here. Only the sign in bar 54 is clearly longer and this is how it was reproduced in FC (also the engraver of EE treated it differently than the others). As far as the omission of the remaining 5 accents in bars 52-53 is concerned, the visible in A differences in length between the 1st and 4th sign and the remaining three, although minor, can be, according to us, significant. Therefore, in the main text we suggest an interpretation including these differences.

The vertical accents, used in EE in bars 52-53, are most probably an arbitrary decision of the engraver – cf., e.g., the Etude in F major, No. 3, bars 29-31.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Long accents