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 G, it is a number of corrections that are noteworthy, out of which the most significant one is the L.H. part having been moved an octave lower in b. 8 and 10-11. The corrections in b. 21-25 may indicate that Chopin committed mistakes while entering marginally different fragments of the L.H. figuration. Minor changes are also visible in the R.H. part, e.g. changes to the rhythm in b. 3.
In b. 9 there is no  raising c1 to c1

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