A - Autograph
| Date: | VIII-IX 1847 |
| Title: | [Valse] || Nro 2 |
| Dedication: | Madame la Baronne C. de Rothschild |
A Stichvorlage with clear signs, probably performed in pencil, with which the engraver of FE marked the planned layout of the text into great staves and pages. A is written quite densely, with visible corrections in the form of deletions (ca. 30). Among the ones that are legible on the available photographs, the most important include:
- lowering the bass note in bar 1 by one octave;
- replacing the rests on the 3rd beat of bars 49-53 with crotchets, repeating the strikes on the 2nd beat of each bar;
- corrections of the 2nd and 3rd crotchet in bar 58 – perhaps replacing the triads with sixths;
-
changing the upbeat of the D
major section, probably from a1 to f1; - deleting an indication (agogic?) over bar 65; probably replacing it with più lento.
Chopin introduced further minor improvements, while proofreading FE.
A is not free from mistakes, e.g.:
-
inaccuracies in the notation of accidentals, e.g., the absence of naturals lowering d
1 to d1 in bar 45 and 61 repeated after As; -
using only four flat key signatures in the D major section.
In the notation of the Waltz, Chopin took full advantage of the brief notation, in which the repeating fragments are written as empty bars with letters or numbers – only 106 out of 192 bars are written out with notes (55% of text).
In mUltimate Chopin we display digitalised, black-and-white photographs of A from the legacy of Prof. Jan Ekier.
| Original in: | Private collection, Basel |