mUltimate Chopin

Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

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b. 336

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

No mark in sources

Staccato dot suggested by the editors
..

In the main text we add a staccato dot, since the missing staccato in this place is most probably an inaccuracy – Chopin indicated short articulation in all three analogous b. 344, 438 & 446.

category imprint: Editorial revisions

b. 336-351

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

No markings in A (→FC→GE)

Staccato dot in FE (→EE)

Slurs suggested by the editors
..

We consider the missing slurs in b. 336, 344 & 351 to be an inaccuracy of notation. In analogous b. 438, 446 & 453 A features slurs in the first and third of them, whereas differentiating between the performance of such similar accompanying figures seems to be unjustified.

The staccato dot in b. 351 in FE (→EE) must be a mistake. 

category imprint: Editorial revisions

b. 338-347

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

Three-note slurs in A (literal reading→FE→EE)

Two- & three-note slurs in FC (→GE1)

Two-note slurs in GE2 (→GE3)
..

When interpreted literally, the slurs of A in b. 338-339 & 346-347 seem to be reaching the bass note in the next bar. However, according to us, it is an inaccuracy, a manner of writing slurs significantly going beyond the intended range, cf., e.g. the phrase marks in b. 320 (corrected) & 326 (see also the Mazurka in G Minor, Op. 24 No. 1, b. 21, 23-24). Due to the above reason, in the main text we give pianistically natural slurs, modelled after the ones Chopin wrote in analogous b. 440-441 & 448-449. Such a solution was introduced already in GE2 (→GE3). The first slur of FC (→GE1), which is shorter, is probably accidental: the copyist forgot to put the ending of the slur in a new line of the text.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccurate slurs in A , Embracing slurs , Inaccuracies in FC

b. 340-348

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

..

The crossings-out and additions visible in A in b. 340 & 348 allow us to reconstruct the original version of the passage in these bars: .

category imprint: Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Corrections in A , Deletions in A , Main-line changes

b. 340-341

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

in A (→FC→GE1)

in FC (→GE1)

in FE

in EE

in GE2 (→GE3)
..

In the main text we suggest that the range of the  mark be compliant with Chopin's entries in all three analogous places (b. 348-349, 442-443, 450-451), since we are convinced that the mark having been shifted in this place is a standard inaccuracy of notation. 

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: Inaccuracies in FE , Scope of dynamic hairpins , GE revisions , EE inaccuracies