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cresc. - - [ - ] from bar 285 suggested by the editors |
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cresc. - - [ - ] from bar 287, our alternative suggestion |
- Chopin moved cresc. to bar 287, yet the proofreading was not finished, since the previously printed indication was unnecessarily left (cf. the commentary on bars 78 and 79);
- Chopin restored cresc. in bar 285, leaving the misprinted indication in bar 287, which is not contrary to the preceding one.
According to us, it is the second possibility that is much more likely. It results from the relationship between this cresc. with the previous 
in bar 284 and an additional significance of this indication resulting from it. It is difficult to imagine a six-bar long crescendo leading again to a (in bar 291) after in bar 284. It is almost certain that Chopin, writing such a long crescendo, considered it obvious to lower the sound at the beginning in order to leave space for the implementation of the indication. Such a procedure seems to be natural in bar 285, in which, next to the change of register and reduced ambitus of the piano part, a resolution of the dissonant, altered chord occurs, embellished with a virtuoso passage in bar 284. If cresc. was supposed to be only in bar 287, none of the indications would suggest to change the dynamics in bars 285-286, whereas lowering the sound only in bar 287 is not justified both harmonically and texturally. In this situation, in the main text we simply leave the cresc. written in bar 285 in A and extended by dashes to the end of bar 289 (we also suggest to extend the dashes – in accordance with the musical sense – to the end of bar 290 and in bar 291).
We include the second of the possible explanations of the double in GE1 in an alternative proposal. In this version, bars 285-286 would be still performed , with a possible natural diminuendo related to the descending figurations, to start crescendo in bar 287 after a possible subito meno forte.
category imprint: Differences between sources
issues: Errors in GE, GE revisions, Authentic corrections of GE
notation: Verbal indications
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