It does not seem that the fact of shortening this bar present in the sources – it includes only three crotchets – had any practical or expressive meaning, as it is compensated by the fermata over the final rest. Due to this fact, in the main text we suggest a minim for this rest, compatible with the time signature. Perhaps at an earlier stage of composing the Etude Chopin introduced here certain changes and did not check the rhythmic notation diligently.
The rhythmic values incompatible with the declared time signature appear in one of the autographs of the Nocturne in B major, Op. 62 No. 1, bar 67 – the bar with the 4/4 time signature is filled with a semibreve and minim.
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category imprint: Editorial revisions
issues: Rhythmic errors
notation: Rhythm