mUltimate Chopin

Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Errors of FC

b. 306

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

Arpeggio sign in A

No sign in FC (→GE) & FE (→EE)
..

The missing arpeggio must be an oversight of the copyist and the engraver of FE: the mark in A is inconspicuous, since it is atypically placed between the accidentals, and not notes.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Errors in FE , Errors of FC

b. 309

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

Staccato dot in A

No mark in FC (→GE) & FE (→EE)
..

The oversight of the staccato dot by the sources based directly on A is justified, to a certain extent, since the small sign is placed not only above the note, but also above the ending of the slur, so that one could have easily overlooked it. The fact that Chopin almost certainly meant a dot in this place is proven by analogous b. 411, in which a more distinct mark was noticed by the copyist.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Errors in FE , Errors of FC

b. 310-333

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

6 longer, 6 shorter slurs in A

2 longer, 9 shorter slurs in FC

10 longer slurs in FE

3 longer, 9 shorter slurs in GE1

9 longer slurs in EE

12 shorter slurs in GE2 (→GE3)

12 longer slurs suggested by the editors
..

The slurs over the motifs of the bottom voice in A are of different length: they encompass the quavers only or reach the minim in the next bar. On many occasions, it is difficult or even impossible to say conclusively which of the slurs Chopin meant. Since there is no visible reason for those actually identical motifs to have different slurs, in the main text we unify them, assuming the six-note slurs to be more frequent in A. None of the remaining sources reproduced Chopin's notation accurately; the differences in FC and FE are exclusively of an accidental nature, whereas GE1, EE and GE2 (→GE3) also introduced arbitrary changes, ordering the notation.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: EE revisions , Errors in FE , Inaccuracies in GE , Inaccuracies in FE , Inaccurate slurs in A , GE revisions , Errors of FC , Inaccuracies in FC

b. 348-349

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

in A & GE2 (→GE3)

No sign in FC (→GE1) & FE (→EE)
..

The  hairpin, very clear in A, was overlooked both in FC (→GE1) and FE (→EE). Its absence in FC may be explained by a possibility that the mark was added in A later, yet its absence in FE must be an oversight. The hairpin was added in GE2 (→GE3) most probably by analogy with the remaining three similar places.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Errors in FE , Errors of FC

b. 348-349

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

Tied third in A (→FE→EE) & GE

Repeated third in FC
..

The missing ties of the b-d1 third must be an oversight of the copyist, revised in GE.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , Errors of FC