b. 553-555

Simultaneous arpeggios in A (→FCGE)

Continuous arpeggios in FE (→EE)

In A arpeggios are present before the majority of the chords in this section (b. 553-572). We generally add them wherever they are missing; however, we subject the notation of the particular places to the likelihood of them having been overlooked by Chopin:

  • we give the undoubtedly overlooked arpeggios in b. 557 directly in the main text;
  • in b. 562 and 564, in which the version without arpeggios, although highly unlikely, is possible and acceptable, we give them in the main text in brackets;
  • in b. 570 and 572, where the absence of the R.H. arpeggios may be considered justified due to diminuendo, we suggest the possibility of adding an arpeggio in the form of a variant;
  • we consider the L.H. arpeggios in b. 568, 570 and 572 to be superfluous in the face of a smaller span of chords and diminuendo, which started in b. 567.

FC (→GE1) omitted – without Chopin's participation – a few more (in b. 556), while FE (→EE) even more (in b. 554, 559, 566 and 568); at the same time, EE added arpeggios in b. 557. In GE2 (→GE3) they were arbitrarily added before all chords.

In the manuscripts and in GE there are no continuous arpeggios for both hands, whereas in FE and EE, wherever a R.H. chord is partially written on the bottom stave, the arpeggio – if present – is a continuous wavy line from B1 to f1.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FE

notation: Ornaments

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