Op. 35, Sonata in B♭ minor, Mvt II

  b. 283-287

		g in chord in GC (→GE)
		b in chord in FE (→EE)

Both GC (→GE) and FE (→EE) are based on [A] and none of them was corrected in this place, therefore, one of the versions is most probably erroneous. Some arguments support the correctness of the chord with g:

• it continues a position ending the movement of the voices of the right hand in bars 277, 278 and 281;
• Chopin corrected GC, yet he did not change anything here.

However, the vast majority of arguments supports the chord with b:

• if Chopin wanted a g, he would have almost certainly written it on the bottom stave (as, e.g., in bars 278-281);
• Chopin would often write notes under the bottom line much lower, and those above the top line much higher which, particularly in the case of minims, was conducive to a mistake consisting in interpreting a bigger number of ledger lines;
• in the entire Sonata, the copyist committed several mistakes consisting in shifting a note by a third; only half of them was corrected. The most important for the discussed problem is the mistake in bar 236 in the first movement of the Sonata, where in the minim chord, written with the use of ledger lines, the extreme note was moved a third away from the remaining elements;
• the Chopin proofreading of GC was not too precise, which is proved by, e.g., the aforementioned mistake in the 1st movement of the Sonata, as well as a few other clear and unnoticed mistakes (e.g., in the 1st movement, bars 68, 217);
• it cannot be excluded, although according to us it is highly unlikely, that both versions are authentic – it is possible if Chopin changed g to b in [A] after having prepared the copy;
• the subsequent impressions of FE (together with the base text to EE) were corrected four times, including three times by Chopin; in spite of this, b remained unchanged;
• the chord of a span of a tenth, in the first inversion, performed with the left or right hand, is most frequent among the ones used by Chopin in the endings of the pieces; it ends, e.g., the first movement of this Sonata and all movements of the Sonata in B minor, Op. 58, as well as the Scherzo in C minor, Op. 39 or the Waltz in A major, Op. 42. 

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Terzverschreibung error, Errors of GC

notation: Pitch

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