GE1
Main text
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French edition
FED - First French edition
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 EE1
EE3 - Revised impression of EE2
compare
  b. 77

c1 in FE, probable interpretation

c1 in FE (possible interpretation→GE,EE)

In FE, there is one mark before the 7th quaver, a  at the pitch of b, so it is unclear whether it concerns the bottom note of the third (resulting in a) or the top one (resulting in c1). In the orchestra, the chord features cin the viola part, both in MFrorch and FEorch. Two possibilities arise:

  1. FE do not contain a manifest error, it is only the  raising a to a (necessary) that was put a little bit too high; it leads to the version with c1 (the  from the 1st half of the bar is valid), in which the c1 note in violas is of a replaceable character. When reading FE, this version is a natural choice and this is how this place was interpreted in GE (however, adding a  in the viola part) and EE. It cannot be excluded that it was performed in such a way by Chopin's pupils during lessons, hence the absence of corrections in the pupils' copies may point to c1.
  2. According to Chopin's intention, the sharp in FE was meant to restore c1, whereas the alteration of a to a, obvious with regard to the sharps in the R.H., was overlooked. Undoubtedly, c1 in violas definitely supports this version, since the use of a chord element is highly likely in such orchestral accompaniment. The pedalling also seems to favour this possibility, since a pedal release (or change) before the 4th crotchet in the bar in the version with c1 would not be necessary (cf. the authentic pedalling in a similar harmonic context in the Fantaisie in F minor, op. 49, bar 18).

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions, Errors in FE, Inaccuracies in FE, GE revisions

notation: Pitch

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