mUltimate Chopin

Op. 28 No. 15, Prelude in D♭ major

Text Compare Notes Sources Description
Select: 
Category
All
Graphic ambiguousness
Interpretations within context
Differences between sources
Editorial revisions
Corrections & alterations
Source & stylistic information
Notation
All
Pitch
Rhythm
Slurs
Articulation, Accents, Hairpins
Verbal indications
Pedalling
Fingering
Ornaments
Shorthand & other
Importance
All
Important
Main
Undo Clear

b. 28-46

composition: Op. 28 No. 15, Prelude in D♭ major

..

EE1 has wrong key signatures in bars 28-49 – 6 sharps on the upper staff in bars 28-49 (4 lines of text), and 5 sharps on the lower staff in bars 28-43 (3 lines). This astonishing mistake was corrected in EE2. Interestingly, the additional sharps change the pitch of only three notes in this entire fragment – e1 to e1 in the middle of bar 38, and at the beginning of bars 40 and 41.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Errors in EE

b. 30

composition: Op. 28 No. 15, Prelude in D♭ major

..

In GE1 the 1st L.H. crotchet is an E-e octave. This typical Terzverschreibung mistake was corrected in GE2 (→GE3).

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Errors in GE , Terzverschreibung error , GE revisions

b. 31-32

composition: Op. 28 No. 15, Prelude in D♭ major

..

In A b. 31 falls at the end of the page, while the L.H. phrase mark (the R.H. too) clearly suggests that it should be continued. However, on a new page, in b. 32, the phrase mark starts only just on the 1st crotchet. We assume that it is the latter that is inaccurate, since a potential division of the phrase marks would be rather symbolic here – the division falls on a tied note. In addition, this is how it was interpreted both in FC (→GE) and FE (→EE).

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Source & stylistic information

issues: Inaccurate slurs in A , Uncertain slur continuation

b. 33

composition: Op. 28 No. 15, Prelude in D♭ major

C-c in A (→FC→GE1, →FE→EE)

E-c in FED, FEJ, FES & GE2 (→GE3)
..

The published version of the last L.H. crotchet, a C-c octave, is most probably a result of a correction, which is revealed by the way it was written down in A – the bottom note is at the same pitch as the three E notes in b. 32-34 (as well as the ledger lines of the three D notes), while the ledger line placed above it differs in the thickness from the adjacent ones, which shows that it was added later. Therefore, it was initially an E-c sixth. In this situation, we consider the correction (performed in all three teaching copies bearing traces of being developed, i.e. FED, FEJ and FES) turning the octave back to a sixth to be Chopin's final decision (probably), presumably taken after multiple trials.
The fact that GE2 includes the version passed by Chopin to his pupils might indicate that the publisher had contact with a person from Chopin's circle, someone who knew about that correction – it seems rather unlikely that the reviser introduced such a change without any source indications. However, the octave was perhaps deemed mistaken because in this entire phrase, all the remaining c notes of the upper voice are coupled with an E in the lower one.
A similar situation can be found in b. 49. 

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , Annotations in FED , Corrections in A , Chopin's hesitations , Annotations in FES , Authentic post-publication changes and variants , Annotations in FEJ

b. 34

composition: Op. 28 No. 15, Prelude in D♭ major

Sign written into FES in bar 50

No teaching fingering
..

In the main text we include here the indication entered into FES, most probably by Chopin, in identical b. 50 – cf. General Editorial Principles, p. 17.

category imprint: Editorial revisions