A
Main text
A - Autograph
FC - Fontana's copy
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French edition
FED - Dubois copy
FES - Stirling copy
FESf - Schiffmacher copy
GE - German edition
GE1 - First German edition
GE2 - Second German edition
GE3 - Corrected impression of GE2
EE - English edition
EE1 - First English edition
EE2 - Revised impression of EE1
EE3 - Corrected impression of EE2
compare
  b. 350

End of slur in A, literal reading

Slur to B in A, possible interpretation

Slur to e in A, contextual interpretation (→FCGE, →FEEE)

2 slurs in A, different interpretation

The ending of the slur in A is unclear: the line ends abruptly under the 3rd crotchet, yet its shape rather does not point to a casual stroke of pen, quite frequent in Chopin's works. Therefore, Chopin could have meant a tenuto slur (for e) or could have even been heading to B at the beginning of the next bar, yet he did not notice that he was out of ink. Another possibility is the unintentional contact between the slur of the bottom voice reaching to the e minim and the slur under the two crotchets of the top voice. However, none of the above is confirmed by a contextual analysis: in analogous b. 452 the slur barely reaches the e minim, whereas the motivic slurs in the top voice of the L.H. are nonexistent in this section, in spite of 12 similar situations. In both sources based directly on A, i.e. FC and FE, the slur is led to the e minim (the slur of FC, although being only slightly shorter than the one in A, cannot be interpreted differently due to its shape). In this situation, it is that version, compliant with analogous b. 452, that we adopt to the main text.

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccurate slurs in A

notation: Slurs

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