Main text
Main text
½A - Semi-autograph
A - Autograph of the piano part
Morch - Manuscript of the orchestra part
GE - German edition
GE1 - First German edition
GE1a - Retouched impression of GE1
GE2 - Second German edition
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French edition
FE2 - Corrected impression of FE1
FED - Dubois copy
FEJ - Jędrzejewicz copy
FES - Stirling copy
EE - English edition
EE1 - First English edition
EE2 - Revised impression of EE1
EE3 - Corrected impression of EE2
compare
  b. 489-490

Semiquavers in A, contextual interpretation

24 demisemi­quavers in GE1 (→FEEE)

24 demisemi­quavers in GE2

In this place, Chopin wrote a combination of trill with tremolando (cf. 1st mov., bar 335) in a precise manner, with notes, determining even the number of touches (in each bar 3 groups of 4). However, he committed a mistake while marking their value as demisemiquavers instead of semiquavers, which may suggest twice the number of required notes. This is how this mistake was revised in GE (→FEEE), increasing the number of touches to 8 in each of the groups. It resulted in an unreasonable notation, since it is impossible to perform a thick tremolando in the tempo marked by Chopin, or even close to the Chopinesque one.
According to us, it was the piano reality that induced Chopin to apply a different notation than in the aforementioned situation from the 1st mov. of the Concerto (used then two more times in the 1st mov. of the Concerto in E minor, op. 11) – using trill in the notation suggests a certain freedom in the choice of the number of performed oscillations, whereas in the discussed place the fast tempo does not allow such a freedom.

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions, Rhythmic errors, Errors of A

notation: Rhythm

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