mUltimate Chopin

Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description
Select: 
Category
All
Graphic ambiguousness
Interpretations within context
Differences between sources
Editorial revisions
Corrections & alterations
Source & stylistic information
Notation
All
Pitch
Rhythm
Slurs
Articulation, Accents, Hairpins
Verbal indications
Pedalling
Fingering
Ornaments
Shorthand & other
Importance
All
Important
Main
Undo Clear

b. 263-264

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

..

Just like in b. 131-132, in the main text we keep the notation of the bars filled with rests, used by Chopin in A (→FC) and applied in GE2 too. The changes introduced in the remaining editions, i.e. replacing both bars with one double bar in FE (→EE) and providing the rests with digits, cannot come from Chopin.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , FE revisions

b. 265-267

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

c1 repeated, f tied in A (→FC→GE)

c1 tied, f repeated in FE (→EE)

c1 & f tied in FESf
..

The version of FE (→EE) is almost certainly erroneous:

  • had Chopin wanted to sustain c1, he would have provided it with an accent, like in b. 285, 289, 387 & 391;
  • the repeated f note in b. 267 attenuates the syncopation value of the chord in the second bar of the phrase, clearly noticeable in all the remaining seven repetitions thereof. The tie was added in FESf.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Errors in FE , Sign reversal , Partial corrections

b. 265-266

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

No slurs in A (→FC→GE)

Slurs in FE (→EE)
..

According to us, the slurs combining e with f and e1 with f1 are a result of a mistake of the engraver of FE, who placed them to the left-hand side of the chord in b. 266, whereas they should be ties, placed to the right-hand side of the chord. It is supported by the following arguments:

  • the almost certainly erroneous third curved line, which turns out to be a tie of c1 – see the adjacent note;
  • problematic purpose of this addition – in relation to the top voice, led in octaves, the slur over the entire phrase encompasses precisely the notes that are combined by the discussed slurs.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Errors in FE , Sign reversal , Partial corrections

b. 265

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

..

In A the beginning of the sotto voce indication was placed on the  mark, which had been written earlier.

category imprint: Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Corrections in A

b. 267-268

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

f1 & f tied in A (→FC→GE) & FESf

f1 repeated, f tied in FE

f1 tied, f repeated in EE
..

In FE b. 267 closes the line of the text. There are no ties of the R.H. minims, f-f1, therein, whereas in b. 268 it is only the tie of f that was finished. These are patent mistakes. EE ignored that partial tie while adding a tie of f1, probably on the basis of comparison with an analogous place in b. 271-272, where FE has only the tie of f1. All necessary ties in the discussed bars were added in FESf.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , EE revisions , Errors in FE , Annotations in FESf