A - Autograph


Date: 22 I 1839
Title: 24 Préludes
Dedication: Son ami J. C. Kessler

Autograph fair-copy of all 24 Preludes, sent from Majorca on January 22, 1839 to Julian Fontana for copying. A served as the basis for the first French edition. Many deletions and corrections together with a considerable number of various errors and inaccuracies represent the work devoted by Chopin to A but also the effort the completion of such a large manuscript demanded from the ailing composer. A more detailed description of A as a whole – see Prelude in C no. 1.

In the Prelude in E minor, it is two interventions that draw our attention: change of the general performing indication marcato to pesante (b. 1), and the final bass note having been moved an octave lower (from E to E1).

Original in: Biblioteka Narodowa, Warsaw
Shelf-mark: Mus. 93