GE1b
Main text
FC - Fontana's Copy
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French edition
FE2 - Corrected reprint of FE1
FED - Dubois copy
FEJ - Jędrzejewicz copy
FES - Stirling copy
GE - German edition
GE1 - First German edition
GE1a - Corrected reprint of GE1
GE1b - Flawed impression of GE1
GE2 - Second German edition
GE3 - Revised impression of GE2
EE - English edition
EE1 - First English edition
EE2 - Corrected reprint of EE1
EE3 - Revised impression of EE2
compare
  b. 42

a-c1 in contextual interpretation of FC, FE, GE1, EE1 (→EE2) and in GE2 (→GE3), EE3 & FED

a-c1 in FEJ & FES, contextual interpretation, and FED, possible interpretation

a-b suggested by the editors – enharmonic notation of FEJ & FES

When publishing the Etude, Chopin envisaged c1 as the middle note of the chords from 4 to 7. The version is included in FC (→GE), FE and EE, yet only in GE and EE3 it was written without mistakes, with the necessary  lowering a to a. However, in all three preserved copies with Chopin's annotations there are entries proving the change of intention. In FEJ, a  lowering c1 to c1 was added in the 4th chord, in FES such naturals are before the 4th and 6th chords. In addition, the  added by Chopin before the 4th chord in FED, despite its lower position, can refer to the middle note (c1), as should not have raised any doubts even without the necessary . Therefore, in all three cases Chopin changed the middle sound in the chords from 4 to 7 in a simplified enharmonically way from c1 to b. The version (our main text) bears features of Chopin improvement – in the original version, the effect of the change from c1 to b at the transition between bars 41 and 42 is reduced due to the later return of c1 in the middle of bar 42.  

Compare the passage in the sources »

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

issues: Annotations in teaching copies, Annotations in FED, Accompaniment changes, Annotations in FES, Authentic post-publication changes and variants, Annotations in FEJ

notation: Pitch

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Original in: British Library, London