b. 110

 

 

The slur over the first two semiquavers visible in A was ignored in the editions, perhaps rightly so, since it cannot be excluded that Chopin e.g. started writing a whole-bar slur in this place, but he stated that it would fall too low and he wrote a second one, higher, not taking care of deleting his first attempt. However, it is a mere supposition and the additional little slur may be considered to be related to the motivic structure of the figuration:

  • the phrase in bar 105 starts from the 2nd quaver in the bar with the c1-f1-g1-amotif. The motif is then repeated in the same rhythmic position in the initial sections of subsequent phrases in bars 107, 109, 110 and 111 (an octave or two higher).
  • four repetitions of the described motif are preceded with a pair of semiquavers, f1-a1 or f2-a2, which bind the subsequent phrases, connecting melodically and harmonically to both the previous and the next ones.
  • therefore, an additional little slur could remind of (or maybe emphasise) the double function of these semiquavers.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in GE, Inaccurate slurs in A

notation: Slurs

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