AI - Autograph Rothschild


Date: 1847
Title: Valse
Dedication: None

Autograph-gift, given to baroness de Rothschild, to whom the published version of the Waltz was then dedicated. A neat and clear manuscript, with a minor number of deletions-corrections, presents the Waltz in the original form, comprising only bars 1-128. It also differs from the version prepared for print in many other aspects:

  • beginning of the piece without upbeat;
  • a total absence of performance indications, except for slurs; the only indication suggesting the tempo and character of the composition is the Valse title;
  • slurring marked only in a fragmented manner – see bars 1-2 and 26-29; 
  • bars 49-64 written as a repetition of bars 33-48, with the use of regular repetition signs;
  • numerous minor differences in melody, rhythm, in particularly of the accompaniment.

It is deletions in pencil, not related, as it seems, to the notation of the Waltz, that draw attention. In two places a  and a  overlooked by Chopin (bars 26 and 45) were added, also in pencil.

Original in: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
Shelf-mark: Ms. 114