Op. 35, Sonata in B♭ minor, Mvt I

EE1's base text was certainly a form of FE – which is proved by the general compatibility of the texts of both editions and a very similar division of the notes into great staves and pages (in this movement of the Sonata it is actually identical). Comparison of EE1 with particular impressions of FE reveals that it included some, yet not all, Chopin changes introduced in FE3. Perhaps the proofreading of FE3 consisted of two stages, while EE1 was based on a copy (not preserved) including only the changes introduced in the first stage (this is probably how the relation between the French and German edition looked like in the Etudes, Op. 10). According to us, it is another possibility that is much more likely – the base text to EE1 was a copy of FE2 with entries (proofreading) performed by Chopin. A copy of the French edition of the Waltz in A major, Op. 42, corrected by Chopin, which was published almost at the same time as the Sonata, constitutes a filiation of this kind, in which it was the base text for both German and English edition. Such a scheme explains both the absence of certain changes introduced in FE3 in EE1 and presence in EE1 of most probably Chopin versions, which are absent in FE and sometimes present only in this edition (in this movement, e.g., slurs in bars 101-104 or 221-225; see also the 3rd movement, Marche, bar 45 and 49). In any case, except for authentic elements, the edition includes additions and changes, indicating a routine editorial revision, concerning, above all, accidentals, e.g., addition of a  in bar 128 or removal of a  in bar 155, sanctioning the erroneous versions of the dyads in the R.H.

Among the changes in relation to FE2, except for the ones mentioned above, one can name:

• correction of pitch mistakes in bar 28, 51, 57, 185, 199, 208, 209, 212, 220;
• correction of the original version in bar 59 and 63 (change of c to e);
• correction of the probably erroneous c² to d² in the 1st chord in bar 76;
• addition of slurs in bars 108-110, 129-132, 152, 185-186, 217-218;
• correction of the erroneously placed  in bar 156;
• correction of pedalling in bar 160;
• addition of ties of g²-g³ in bars 199-200;
• removal of f from the 1st chord in bar 207;
• addition of d¹ in the chords in bar 217;
• addition of an accent in bar 223;
• extension of the range of crescendo in bars 233-234.

Some of the additions, mainly of accidentals, most probably come from the reviser, although addition of some of them by Chopin cannot be excluded, e.g.: naturals in bar 22, 90, 110, 124, 137-138, 145-152, 208, 234, a cautionary flat in bar 96, pedalling in bars 101-104. A characteristic manner of EE1 is to replace some of the horizontal accents with vertical ones, e.g., in bar 37.

In spite of Chopin proofreading and revision, EE1 did not remove all mistakes and inaccuracies, e.g.,  instead of  in bar 1, no naturals before the last quaver in the L.H. in bar 137 or a few signs in bars 145-150.