The articulation markings in the part of the L.H. in bars 309-10 raise doubts due to a simple reason that in spite of the identical structure of these bars Chopin marked them differently. The likeliness of mistakes is increased by separating them in A with a turn of the page, hence the composer did not have the opportunity to see them simultaneously, which undoubtedly hampered e.g. the coordination of changes. If we also take into account similar bars 159-160, we could actually question the reach of every slur and the absence or presence of staccato dots on the first note of each of four groups of quavers in the discussed bars. However, according to us, only some of those elements raise more serious doubts:
- The absence of the staccato dot at the beginning of bar 310 – in the mentioned bars all remaining figures of such an interval structure have a dot over the 1st note (including the 2nd figure in bar 160, identical with the discussed one). In the main text we suggest adding the dot.
- Starting the 1st slur in bar 310 from the 1st note – in analogous bar 309 Chopin shortened such a slur, so it seems to be likely that he meant both situations and he omitted the second correction by inadvertence. We suggest the shorter slur, beginning from the 2nd quaver, as an alternative version, leaving in the main text the version of the sources due to the slur in bar 160.
- The staccato dot over the 5th quaver in bar 309 – the corresponding figure in the next bar does not have a dot here, which seems to be more natural in such a structured figure. We suggest the version without dot as an alternative one.
- The slur in the 2nd half of bar 309 – in the majority of similar figures slurs begin after the note provided with a staccato sign. Therefore, assuming the correctness of the staccato dot, one can suspect an inaccuracy of the slur. The version is included in EE and GE2.
The absence of slurs in bar 309 in FE is a patent mistake.
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources
issues: EE revisions, Errors in FE, Inaccuracies in GE, Corrections in A, GE revisions
notation: Slurs