mUltimate Chopin

Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : No pedal release mark

b. 40

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

 in A (→FE→EE1→EE2)

  in FC (→GE) & EE3
..

The missing  in A (→FE→EE1→EE2) was probably overlooked by Chopin: the bar closes the page, which favours distraction. The mark was added in FC (→GE) and EE3.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: EE revisions , No pedal release mark , Authentic corrections of FC

b. 179-180

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

 in A (→FE)

No markings in FC (→GE)

   & L.H. slur in EE

   suggested by the editors
..

The missing  mark after , present in A (→FE) in b. 179, could be considered a common inaccuracy resulting from distraction caused by the transition into a new page of the manuscript. However, an identical situation is to be found in A in analogous b. 630; since both places are devoid of pedalling markings in FC (→GE), both  marks were probably added in A after FC had been finished. Therefore, Chopin could have considered the  marks to be clear enough while completing A. On the other hand, the  mark, added – probably by Chopin – in FE (→EE) at the end of b. 631, suggests that the decision was changed (or that the inaccurate notation, perhaps introduced in haste, was completed). Due to the above reason, in the main text we add a  mark also in b. 180. EE performed a far-reaching revision: apart from adding a , the slur placed by Chopin over the parts of both hands was doubled under the bottom stave. 

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Corrections in A , No pedal release mark , Errors of FC , Inaccuracies in A

b. 536

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

No  in A (→FC→GE, →FE→EE)

in bar 539 in GE2

in bar 537 in GE3

[] suggested by the editors
..

The sources lack an authentic pedal release mark of the pedal from b. 536. The  marks added in different places in GE2 and GE3 must be arbitrary. In the main text we suggest that the pedal is held throughout the entire four-bar section, based on one chord, until the end of crescendo, which is natural in this context.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: GE revisions , No pedal release mark

b. 540-543

composition: Op. 31, Scherzo in B♭ minor

Pedal up to bar 542 in A

No markings in FC (→GE1) & GE3

only in FE (→EE)

Pedal up to bar 543 in GE2
..

In the main text we give the pedalling of A, the only irrefutably authentic. The missing pedalling in FC (→GE) may be a result of an oversight of the copyist: overlooked slurs suggest distraction. It is also likely that Chopin added it in A after having prepared FC. The missing  mark seems to be an oversight of the engraver of FE. The oversight can result in a long, more or less four-bar pedal, to which this virtuoso passage in loud dynamics prompts. Such a pedalling was indicated – arbitrarily – in GE2 and removed in GE3. 

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Errors in FE , GE revisions , No pedal release mark , Errors of FC