A - Autograph
| Date: | 1836 |
| Title: | 8me Nocturne |
A fair copy that served as the base text for GE1. Its dating is difficult; Chopin mentions later Op. 27 among the works offered to his Leipzig publisher in June 1835. However, we do not know whether the composer had the manuscript ready then; it must have been finished by spring 1836, as in May that year the Nocturnes were already published.
Chopin prepared A with great care for its legibility, as we can see from numerous corrections made by erasing, e.g. in bars 9, 11 and 19 (there are also deletions, e.g. in bar 53). Despite Chopin's efforts, in many places it provs really difficult to come up with precise interpretation of some performance markings (slurs, hairpins, or accents). Also, as is often the case with Chopin's manuscripts, some accidentals are missing particularly in sharp keys (bars 34-41 and 44), yet this shortcoming does not result in any interpretation difficulties.
A has numerous notes made in pencil and crayon by the engraver of GE1, who marked the planned layout of the text into systems and pages that way. Besides, A bears certain marks made in pen, which can hardly be ascribed to Chopin (see bars 51-52). Those marks were probably made by the reviewer of GE 1 (similar additions, made a year later, can be seen in the autograph of the Impromptu A flat major Op. 29).
| Original in: | Biblioteka Narodowa, Warszawa |
| Shelf-mark: | Mus. 218 |
