Main text
Main text
GE - German edition
GE1 - First German Edition
GE2 - Later impression of GE1
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French Edition
FED - Dubois's copy
FEJ - Jędrzejewicz copy
FES - Stirling copy
EE - English edition
EE1 - First English Edition
EE2 - Second impression of EE1
EE3 - Later impression of EE2
compare
  b. 5-13

GE (→FEEE): semiquaver after the last note of the triplet

Notation in keeping with Chopin's understanding of this figure

All his life Chopin adhered to the convention according to which  . That convention had been widely used until the middle of the 19th century, when gradually a new style of notation gained popularity, the one that has been binding until today. The most ardent proponent of the new system was the major German editor of Chopin’s works, the publishing firm Breitkopf & Härtel. In the works published by them semiquavers were moved after the 3rd note of the triplet disregarding the graphic layout of the base text or the musical or pianistic sense (cf. e.g. the comparison of the autograph and B&H's first edition based thereon in the Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major Op. 61, bars 270-277).

In bars 5, 9, 11 and 13 in GE (→FEEE), the semiquaver in the  is moved to after the third note of the triplet in the accompaniment. There is no reason to believe that this corresponds to Chopin's notation or reflects his intention.

See the chapter devoted to this issue in Jan Ekier, Introduction to the National Edition, Editorial Issues, p. 183.

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Interpretations within context

issues: GE revisions, Dotted rhythms and triplets

notation: Rhythm

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