mUltimate Chopin

Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Errors resulting from corrections

b. 765

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

No slur in A (→FC,FE→EE)

Slur in GE
..

The slur written in A over the R.H. motif was deleted together with the original version of the agogic indication. A comparison with analogous b. 767 and 769 (as well as 759 and 763) proves that leaving this bar without slur is Chopin's mistake. The slur was added only in GE.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: Errors resulting from corrections , Deletions in A

b. 780

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

Wedges in A

Staccato dots in FC (→GE1)

No marks in FE (→EE) & GE2 (→GE3)
..

In A it is unclear which kind of staccato marks (in both hands) Chopin meant. In the original, deleted version of that bar they were dots; however, in the final version the marks are clearly prolonged (vertically), particularly in the R.H. The absence of those marks in FE (→EE) is probably a result of misunderstanding A: the mark over the R.H. minim could have been considered a part of the fermata, which, in turn, could have influenced the omission of the L.H. mark. It is difficult to say what the motivation of GE2 (→GE3) to omit the dots visible in GE1 was. Perhaps they were considered contrary to the extending dots and fermatas. Chopin must have considered the extraction manner of sound to be independent from the length of its echo – regulated with pedal – and nothing indicates that he would have wanted to abandon emphasising the triumphal gesture ending the Scherzo with staccato marks.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources; Source & stylistic information

issues: Errors in FE , Corrections in A , Errors resulting from corrections , GE revisions , Wedges , Inaccuracies in FC , Inaccuracies in A