b. 104-105

 

 

The return to tempo is marked in FE (→EE) in bar 105, in the solo part only. Tempo 1was introduced a bar earlier in GE, also in the orchestral part, which is most probably an editorial revision – cf. a similar situation in bar 52. In the discussed bar, the solution adopted in GE cannot be deemed improper – although the range of the rallentando from the previous bar is marked with dashes and it does not embrace bar 104, the placement of a tempo in bar 105 may suggest that the slowed-down tempo was valid still in bar 104, which, most probably, was not compliant with Chopin's intention. However, it is to be observed that the ambiguity concerns FEpiano (→EE) only – when performing the Concerto with orchestra, a tempo in bar 105 is a sufficient piece of information for the soloist, who does not play in bar 104, while in the orchestral part (FEorch), which enters on the last beat of bar 103, rallentando is not marked at all, so bar 104 is simply performed in the normal tempo of this movement.

A tempo in bar 104 is present in MFrw, which may indicate that in the earlier sources of the orchestral part, the return to the tempo primo was marked already in bar 104.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions

notation: Verbal indications

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