mUltimate Chopin

Op. 64 No 2, Waltz in C♯ minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Main-line changes

b. 83

composition: Op. 64 No 2, Waltz in C♯ minor

a1 in As & A (→FE→GE,EE)

c2 in AI
..

The fact that As includes a version compliant with the version prepared for print (particularly in the next bar), although AI has a different version, undoubtedly earlier, can be explained twofold:

  • some of the corrections in As were introduced already after having written AI;
  • AI presents the piece in a possibly simple form, intentionally devoid of major complications, both technical and musical, e.g. rhythmic. It could have been motivated by the fact that the autograph was intended for an amateur pianist. 

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Main-line changes

b. 84-86

composition: Op. 64 No 2, Waltz in C♯ minor

As

As, 2nd version

AI

A (→FE→GE,EE)
..

The first of the versions of As, intended most probably for this bar, is already very close to the final one. In this situation, the presence of a considerably simpler and undoubtedly earlier version in AI may be puzzling – see bar 83. The interpretation of the second version of As is, due to a sketchy notation, hypothetical to a certain extent – the pitch of the second of the added notes is not entirely certain, whereas the last one could have been supposed to be an a1, like in the first version.

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

issues: Main-line changes

b. 89

composition: Op. 64 No 2, Waltz in C♯ minor

As

AI

A (→FE→GE,EE)
..

Both in As and AI Chopin diversified this bar with respect to the version of bar 73 (differently in each of them). In A (→FE→GE,EE), bars 73 and 89 are identical, which, in the face of differences in the previous bars, does not create an impression of homogeneity at all. In turn, the version introduces a clear division between the phrases, absent in the earlier versions.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Main-line changes

b. 93-96

composition: Op. 64 No 2, Waltz in C♯ minor

As, first version

As, 2nd version

As, 3rd version & AI, contextual interpretation

As, 4th version

A (→FE→GE,EE)
..

Four versions of these bars written in As illustrate the evolution of the concept of the ending of this section. The catalyst for change was, as it seems, the harmonic course – from a simple replacement of the final tonic chord with its minor version in the first edition, through a three-bar modulation with the use of a characteristic leading chord (it can be interpreted as, e.g. an altered f-a-c-e subdominant) in the second one, to the suspension of the harmonic course on the diminished seventh chord in the last two (see also the note on bars 92-93).

As far as the melodic line is concerned, the major transformation took place in the last two bars. Chopin started from repeating the phrase from bars 77-80, with a change only in the last bar, having a nature of a connecting episode with the beginning of the refrain. In the next versions, the changes appear each time earlier; one can also see that two elements, which then contributed to the final version – leading the phrase to g1, and not g2, and the descending diminished seventh f2-g1 (written initially as e2-g1) – were already in the second version, yet Chopin then transitionally resigned from the seventh. It is also worth noting that both versions of the melody used in the finished editions of the piece (AI and the published version) are already included in As. 

Due to the lack of indication of the conclusive version, we assume the earliest version to be the text of As.
In the second of the given variants, we take into account two slurs in the L.H., which, due to major differences between particular editions of the accompanying part, are to be applied only in this version. 

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Chopin's hesitations , Accompaniment changes , Main-line changes