Op. 28 No. 1, Prelude in C major

First French edition based on A, in which the whole cycle of Preludes was divided into two books, 12 pieces each. Chopin almost certainly did not participate in its preparation – proofreading of FE1, which included supplemented accidentals and pedalling, was conducted by Julian Fontana*. Examples of such additions and other major changes can be found in, e.g. the Preludes in:

• B minor no. 6, b. 12-14 (c naturals added), F minor no. 8, b. 4 (a¹  added), 21 (g²  added) i 23 (d³  added), E no. 9, b. 7 (f naturals added),
• F minor no. 8, b. 9 (superfluous b  omitted), G minor no. 12, b. 37 (superfluous a¹⁽²⁾ sharps deleted),
• E no. 9, b. 12, D no. 15, b. 81, E no. 19, b. 69 ( added),
• F minor no. 8, b. 9 (superfluous b  omitted), G minor no. 12, b. 37 (superfluous a¹⁽²⁾ sharps deleted),
• G minor no. 12, b. 64 (pedalling added), E no. 19, b. 53 (pedalling supplemented),
• D no. 15, b. 70 (bottom note in chord changed from d¹ to e¹),
• F minor no. 18, b. 10-12 (separate L.H. wedges added), b. 13-14 (separate L.H. slurs added),
• G minor no. 22, b. 8 (correction of a rhythmic error).

In FE1, a number of mistakes and inaccuracies were committed, e.g.:

• erroneous notes in the Preludes in B minor no. 6, b. 19, F minor no. 8, b. 1-2 C minor no. 10, b. 2, G minor no. 12, b. 1, F no. 13, b. 22,
  E minor no. 14, b. 4, B minor no. 16, b. 43, E no. 19, b. 21, G minor no. 22, b. 41;
• omission of separated, inner chordal notes (c¹ and b) in b. 58-59 of the Prelude in B no. 21;
•  instead of the grace note in the Prelude in B no. 11, b. 21;
•  instead of  in the Preludes in E minor no. 14, B minor no. 16 and F minor no. 18;
•  instead of  and an arpeggio marking in the Prelude in A no. 17, b. 43;
• oversights of different elements of notation, such as e.g.:

– arpeggio sign in the Prelude in A minor no. 2, b. 22,

–  or  hairpins in the Preludes in G no. 3, b. 17-18,

E minor no. 4, b. 17-18, E no. 9, b. 10-11,

– ties in the Preludes in E no. 9, b. 12, G minor no. 12, b. 32,

– slurs, e.g. in the Preludes in G minor no. 12, b. 28-30, G minor

no. 22, b. 35-37,

– accidentals, e.g. in the Prelude in G minor no. 12, b. 35,

– accents, e.g. in the Prelude in G minor no. 12, b. 61, D no. 15,

b. 87,

– additional crotchet stems in the Preludes in D no. 15, b. 19,

E no. 19, b. 62-63,

–  in the Prelude in D no. 15, b. 43, sempre  in the Prelude in

D minor no. 24, b. 66,

– cresc. - - in the Prelude in B minor no. 16, b. 10-14,

– fingering in the Prelude in B minor no. 16, b. 22-23 and 41,

– notes in the Prelude in A no. 17, b. 77,

– pedal markings in the Prelude in B no. 21, b. 12-13 and 57,

– staccato dots in the Preludium in G minor no. 22, b. 17, 19 and

analog.;

• inaccurate  or  hairpins in the Preludes in B minor no. 6, b. 1-2 and analog.;
• accidentals to incorrect notes in dyads in the Prelude in B no. 21, b. 6 and 44.

Many distinct inaccuracies of A were also left uncorrected, especially as regards the omitted accidentals, e.g. in the Preludes in A no. 7, b. 11 and 13, F minor no. 8, G minor no. 12, b. 24-32 or in A no. 17, b. 44-50.

One of the major and at the same time inauthentic changes with respect to A is the way the combination of dotted rhythms and quaver triplets in the Prelude in E no. 9 was reproduced.

In the Prelude in C the most serious defect is the additional, erroneous E note in the last bar.

^* Chopin himself stated this in a letter to Fontana on 8 August 1839: "Pleyel wrote to me that you are very obligeant, that you have proof-read the Preludes." Admittedly, Fontana could have consulted certain problematic situations with Chopin via letters; however, no traces of such correspondence are known to have survived, and it seems highly unlikely.