Op. 28 No. 1, Prelude in C major

GE1 is based on FC, Chopin took no part in its preparation. In the entire Op. 28 GE1 contains many revisions, the most important inauthentic change is the way the combination of dotted rhythms and quaver triplets in the Prelude in E no. 9 was reproduced. Other revisions include:

• essential accidentals added, e.g. in the Preludes in G no. 3, b. 7, F minor no. 8, b. 1-4 ff. (not all necessary ones were added), E no. 9, b. 6-11 (not all), b. 7, G minor no. 12, b. 24-32, 30, D no. 15, b. 75, B minor no. 16, b. 4, 12-13, A no. 17, b. 44-50, E no. 19, b. 3, 11, C minor no. 20, b. 8 and 12, B no. 21, b. 19-23;
• cautionary accidentals added, e.g. in the Preludes in A minor no. 2, b. 7, D no. 5, b. 17, F minor no. 8, b. 10, 11, D no. 15, b. 13, B minor no. 16, b. 17, A no. 17, b. 52, G minor no. 22, b. 14, 15;
• performance markings changed – accent instead of  in b. 16 of the Prelude in A minor no. 2;
• performance markings added – ritenuto in b. 11-12 of the Prelude in C minor no. 20;
• routine modifications of slurring, e.g. in the Prelude in E minor no. 4, b. 11 and 19, as well as hairpins  or  in the Preludes in B minor no. 6, b. 1-2 and analog.;
• other arbitrary modifications of slurs, e.g. in the Preludes in C minor no. 10, b. 3-5 and 8, G minor no. 12, b. 21-22;
• slurs added, e.g. in the Prelude in B minor no. 16, b. 32-33;
• articulation marks added, e.g. in the Prelude in G minor b. 4 (staccato dot);
• pedal markings supplemented in the Prelude in D minor no. 24, b. 41-42;
• the semibreve c¹ changed into a minim at the beginning of b. 12 in the Prelude in F no. 13;
• semiquavers changed to demisemiquavers in tuplets in b. 8 and 12 in the Prelude in F minor no. 18.

A number of mistakes in the interpretation of the Stichvorlage were also committed; the most significant ones appear to be:

• 4 erroneous chords – B-d-a instead of c-e-a – in the Prelude in E minor no. 4, b. 11,
• swapped 2nd and 3rd semiquavers (e, c instead of c, e), in the Prelude in B minor no. 16, b. 2, and an erroneous chord in b. 24 of this Prelude (g-g¹ instead of e-c¹-g¹),
• erroneous melodic note in b. 5 (a¹-f² instead of a¹-g²) of the Prelude in A no. 17,
• mistaken 3rd group of L.H. quavers in the Prelude in E no. 19, bars 53 and 61 – E, b, B instead of G, b, e,
• erroneous 4th quaver in  b. 55 of the Prelude in B no. 21 – B instead of c.

Other errors include:

• mistaken notes in the Preludes in:

– A minor no. 2, b. 9 (d instead of e),

– E no. 9, b. 2, (c instead of d),

– B no. 11, b. 12 (additional c¹),

– G minor no. 12, b. 15 and 17 (e¹ instead of f¹ or d¹),

26 (g¹ instead of f¹),

– F no. 13, b. 29 (A instead of c),

– E minor no. 14, b. 3 (e¹ instead of d¹),

– D no. 15, b. 2 (a instead of b), 30 (E-e instead of E-c),

– A no. 17, b. 21 (g-h-d¹ or g-f¹-a¹ instead of g-d¹-f¹),

26 (f instead of g),

– E no. 19, b. 2 (g² instead of e²), 5 (c² instead of a¹), 21

(a¹ instead of f¹), 24 (a instead of f), 59 (a instead of b),

– B no. 21, b. 50 (additional A),

– G minor no. 22, b. 3 (a instead of c¹),

– D minor no. 24, b. 26 (c instead of e), b. 36 (c⁴ instead of d⁴),

b. 42 (e instead of g), b. 72 (F instead of D);

• quaver instead of semiquaver in the Prelude in G minor no. 22, b. 8;
•  instead of  in the Prelude in E no. 19, b. 52;
•  instead of  in the Prelude in C minor no. 20, b. 9;
• additional  in the Prelude in G minor no. 22, b. 22 and 30;
• erroneous range of the arpeggio signs in b. 73 in the Prelude in D minor no. 24;
• various elements of notation omitted, e.g.:

– notes in the Preludes in A no. 17, b. 5 (a), F minor no. 18,

b. 17 (e¹),

–  or  hairpins in the Preludes in B mior no. 6, b. 11,

– accents in the Preludes in F minor no. 8, b. 1, C minor no. 10,

b. 13,

– interpretation indications, e.g. dim. in the Prelude in F minor

no. 8, b. 24-26, cresc. - - in the Prelude in C minor no. 20, b. 11-
12, più animato - - in the Prelude in G minor no. 22, b. 28-31,

– accidentals, e.g. in the Prelude in F minor no. 8 ( in b. 5),

– slurs, e.g. in the Preludes in G minor no. 12, b. 40, F minor

no. 18, b. 6, B no. 21, b. 33-36,

– ties, e.g. in the Prelude in F no. 13, b. 14 and 25, G minor

no. 22, b. 3,

– staccato dots, e.g. in the Prelude in G minor no. 12, b. 54-56,

A no. 17, b. 65

– pedalling, e.g. in the Prelude in F no. 13, t. 10, in G minor

no. 22, b. 29, in D minor no. 24, b. 28-29,

– additional crotchets stems in the Prelude in D no. 15, b. 19,

E no. 19, b. 63.

Sometimes it is hard to establish whether a change relative to FC is a revision or a mistake, e.g. shifting of  signs in Preludes in D no. 5, b. 5-6, shortening of the arpeggio sign in the Prelude in F minor no. 8, b. 34, changes to pitch of the last R.H. semiquaver in b. 5 (b¹ to a¹) and 23 (f¹ to e¹) of the Prelude in D minor no. 24, an additional pedal change in b. 71 of the same Prelude.

Moreover, a few errors of the Stichvorlage were repeated without change, e.g.:

• omitted accidentals, e.g. in the Prelude in A no. 7, b. 11, B minor no. 16, b. 26-27, A no. 17, b. 26, B no. 21, b. 6 and 28, G minor no. 22, b. 19 and 27,
• F instead of G in the Prelude in F no. 13, b. 16.
• 9 instead of 10 in the tuplet marking in the Prelude in D no. 15, b. 79
• erroneous rhythm in the Prelude in G minor no. 22, b. 8.

In the Prelude in C  was changed to  at the beginning of the piece, and a  mark was added at the end. In addition, two pitch errors were committed – in bar 12 (d¹ where FC has an imprecisely written e¹), and in bar 29 (f instead of g).

There are copies of GE1 which have differing covers, and the edition was also published in a version of 4 fascicules containing 6 preludes each.