EE1
Main text
GC - Gutmann'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 - Another copy 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. 7

Literal reading of slurs in GC (→GE1)

Possible interpretation of slurs in GC, and slur in FE & GE2 (→GE3)

Slurs in EE

The phrasing of this fragment provides, according to us, relevant indications concerning the interpretation of Chopin slurs. The original slurring – transferred by EE, yet initially written also in GC and corrected in FE (one can see a clear trace of a shorter slur in bar 7) – consisted of two slurs: one included two triplets in bar 6 and the second began from the B crotchet in bar 7. Chopin changed the slurring both in GC and FE, yet while the slur in FE is conclusive, in GC it is not certain whether the added section of the slur in bar 7 was supposed to connect it to the previous one, according to Chopin, or to be only an earlier start of a new slur (GE1 interpreted the slurs literally as non-connected). In analogous bars 50-51, we find both correct versions of the slurring, already without the traces of performing changes, yet there one slur appears in GC (and EE) and two in FE.

Therefore, it seems – and this conclusion is confirmed by numerous similar situations in other pieces – that Chopin actually treated both slurrings equally. A relevant rule can be formulated as follows: breaking the slur at the bar line (and sometimes also at the beginning of further main beats of the bar) had a conventional meaning and did not mean a break neither in the legato articulation, nor in the phrasing.

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Authentic corrections of FE, Authentic corrections in GC

notation: Slurs

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