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Rhythm in A, literal interpretation |
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Rhythm in A, probable interpretation |
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Rhythm in A, interpretation suggested by the editors |
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The rhythmic notation of the first chord includes two elements requiring an editorial intervention:
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a too long value of the top note, a
2; -
no stem determining the assignment of the middle note, e2, to the top or bottom voice (we consider the possibility that Chopin planned to separate it as a third voice to be highly unlikely).
The correct rhythm of the top voice is undeniable. In spite of that, the mistake, although obvious, was noticed and corrected only in GE2. The second issue constitutes a more difficult problem, since there are a few possibilities of improvement of the Chopin notation, and the differences between the particular versions are minimal. While choosing the main text, we took into consideration the following factors:
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an analogy with the version of bars 169-170, without mistakes and ambiguities, in which Chopin assigned b1 to the top voice in bar 169, yet to the bottom one in bar 170. It means that he did not consider it to be necessary to repeat the arrangement of the voices from the first bar in the second one.
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the correction of the rhythmic value of the d2 minim visible in A – Chopin started writing a crotchet – suggests that the notation of the d2-e2 second was to be initially the same as of the a1-b1 second in bar 170. It was probably only after the composer had realised that this time the bottom note at the end of the 1st half of the bar is not to be repeated that he changed d2 to a minim. According to us, it increases the probability that e2 was supposed to be held as long as b1 in bar 170, hence for a double dotted crotchet, and the missing extending dots are a result of distraction.
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources
issues: GE revisions, Rhythmic errors, Errors of A, Errors repeated in GE, Errors repeated in FE, Errors repeated in EE
notation: Rhythm