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Op. 25 No 9, Etude in G♭ major

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Last key signature sign

b. 34

composition: Op. 25 No 9, Etude in G♭ major

No accidentals in sources (literal reading—C-c)

Contextual interpretation suggested by the editors (C-c)
..

Lack of the naturals raising C-c to C-c is almost certainly Chopin's mistake, despite the fact that this kind of oversights of signs introducing alterations are not frequent (yet they are to be found in, e.g., the Etude in F minor, No. 2, bar 56). It could have seemed that the C-c octave did not require naturals due to the following reasons:

  • on a number of occasions, Chopin was not sure whether the last or the following it key signature is valid or not, particularly when their number was significant (cf., e.g., the Etude in G minor, No. 6, t. 7-8).
  • the chromatic progressions are characteristic for the melodic structure of a number of fragments of the Etude, e.g., in bars 1-3, 10, 23-24 (in the latter they are also in the harmonic structure). The last such fragment are bars 32-36;
  • the harmonic progression at the transition between bars 34-35 was probably supposed to refer to the progression in bars 32-33, where there is C-c. Therefore, the psychological mechanism of overlooking the naturals could have been similar to the one that was responsible for omissions of the signs of the current key – here is the signs of the current harmonic context that would have been omitted.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Errors in FE , Errors in EE , Errors in GE , Last key signature sign , Errors of GC

b. 43

composition: Op. 25 No 9, Etude in G♭ major

..

In GC (→GE1), FE and EE1, before the last octave in the R.H. (c3-c4) there are flats. The signs, completely unjustified in this place, must have been also in [A], which is a very meaningful example of Chopin's uncertainty concerning the issue of the prevailing set of key signatures, particularly the last one. The signs were removed in GE2 (→GE3) and EE2, while in GE3 they were reintroduced, which indicates rather a mechanical work of the reviser of EE3, copying the versions of GE1 without having analysed their accuracy.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , GE revisions , Cautionary accidentals , Last key signature sign