GE2
Main text
Afrag - Autograph fragment
A1 - Autograph fair-copy
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French edition
FE2 - Second French edition
FED - Dubois copy
GE - German edition
GE1 - First German edition
GE2 - Second German edition
EE - English edition
EE1 - First English edition
compare
  b. 2-3

Slur to minim in Afrag & FE (→EE)

Slur to end of bar in A1, contextual interpretation

Slur to bar 3 in GE

When interpreted literally, the slurs of A1 in b. 2 and 6 do not reach the beginning of b. 3 and 7, yet in four further written-out repetitions of this phrase (b. 10-11, 26-27, 30-31 and 34-35) they already do, which is particularly clearly visible in the first two cases. Taking into account the fact that in all those places, including b. 58-59, 62-63 and 66-67, which were not written out in A1, the slurs in GE reach the beginning of the next bar (or further), we consider the notation in the discussed bars to have been abandoned by Chopin or simply inaccurate. In the remaining editions, none of the mentioned places bears traces of Chopin's intervention: either routine corrections of some Stichvorlagen's patent inaccuracies were performed or new mistakes were committed. 

In b. 1-2, the slur of A1 seems to consist of two parts. According to us, the shape of both lines proves that the division is almost certainly a result of temporary ink stoppage in the pen's tip.

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Inaccurate slurs in A, Tenuto slurs

notation: Slurs

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