In the main text we do not include the grace note added in FED, indicating the manner of beginning the trill. The head of the added small quaver is written inaccurately, so that it can be interpreted as a or g (or possibly g
). The possibility that it was supposed to be a g can be immediately excluded – numerous additions in various pieces in the collection of Miss O'Meara clearly indicate that she considered beginning the trill from the main note, which would be indicated by the g grace note, to be natural and there was no reason to mark it in a more specific way.
Out of the two remaining possibilities, it is the a that seems to be more likely. The added note, despite its imprecise placement, is, however, clearly higher than g. Hence, the version would have been compatible with the two additions concerning trills in FED, in bars 7 and 51.
The version with g, a little bit less convincing graphically, is at least equal from the stylistic point of view. The trill beginning from the lower second of the main note was one of Chopin's favourite versions of this ornament (it appears, e.g., in bars 25 and 55). Such a way of beginning the trill was also indicated on a number of occasions in the pupil's copies in the places in which the printed text did not suggest it, e.g., in the Nocturnes in E
major, Op. 9 No. 2, bar 7 and analog. or in F major, Op. 15 No. 2, bar 7 and analog. Contrary to the published texts, in which he would use a double grace note in this context, Chopin would then add only one grace note, so same as here.
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources
issues: Annotations in teaching copies, Annotations in FED
notation: Ornaments
