Main text
Main text
Atut - Autograph of first Tutti
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French edition
FED - Dubois copy
FEFo - Forest copy
FEH - Hartmann copy
FEJ - Jędrzejewicz copy
FES - Stirling copy
GE - German edition
GE1 - First German edition
GE2 - Corrected impression of GE1
GE2a - Altered impression of GE2
GE3 - Second German edition
EE - English edition
EE1 - First English edition
EE2 - Corrected impression of EE2
EE3 - Revised impression of EE2
compare
  b. 197

Continuous slur in FE (→EE,GE1GE2)

Separate slurs in FED & GE3

In bars 197 and 199, the continuous slurs of FE (→EE,GE1GE2) seem to be contrary to the rhythmic notation, indicating the need to separate the first two notes from the following semiquavers. According to us, it is a remaining part of the original version of these bars, in which the figuration used semiquavers only (without rests) – cf. bar 195 and bars 550, 552 and 554. The fact that the rhythm in the discussed places was changed by Chopin is proved by the traces, visible in FE, of moving the demisemiquaver beams from the 3rd to the 2nd note in bars 197, 199 and 201. A similar situation in bar 65 of the Etude in G major, op. 10, no. 5 shows that the corrections could have started already in [A], precisely from the version with the regular sequence. The need to separate the first two notes from the following semiquavers was confirmed by Chopin with additional marks written in pencil in FED – the slashed lines, underlining the significance of the rest, are visible in bars 197 and 201; moreover, in bar 197, Chopin wrote a slur over the first two semiquavers. In this situation, the fact of leaving continuous slurs may be considered an inadvertence of Chopin who was busy looking for the aptest manner of writing the rhythm of the "parenthetic rest" (cf. the Scherzo in C minor, op. 39, bar 47). Taking into account the above circumstances, in the main text, we separate the slurs, adjusting the phrasing to the rhythmic notation. A similar conjecture was introduced into GE3.

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Annotations in teaching copies, Annotations in FED, GE revisions, Authentic post-publication changes and variants, Inserted rest

notation: Slurs

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