mUltimate Chopin

Op. 28 No. 15, Prelude in D♭ major

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Errors of A

b. 10-11

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

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In A one can see that the first two quavers in b. 11 were crossed out; they were initially f2-d2. It was also a tie to the former, running from b. 10, that was crossed out. It is probably a correction of an erroneously introduced fragment of b. 14-15.

category imprint: Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Corrections in A , Errors of A , Deletions in A

b. 12

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

c1 in A (literal reading→FE,FC→GE1)

c1 in EE, GE2 (→GE3), FED & FES
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The version of A (→FE,FC→GE1), without a  before the 3rd quaver in the bar, almost certainly resulted from Chopin's mistake, which is confirmed by the flats he wrote in FED and FES. In FC there is also no  before the 7th quaver, most probably due to an oversight, since in A the accidental is poorly visible due to the crossing-out showing through the page. Admittedly, both flats are visible on the photo of FC; however, they were added there much later by H. Scholtz, which explains the absence of the former in GE1 (the latter was added thanks to the  in the R.H.). The fact that those flats were added later is evidenced by their font (they are clearly bigger than the ones written by Fontana) and by the intensity of blackening, pointing to a pencil.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources; Source & stylistic information

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , EE revisions , Annotations in FED , GE revisions , Omission of current key accidentals , Errors of A , Annotations in FES , Errors of FC , Errors repeated in FE

b. 44-46

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

No slur in A, literal reading

Slur in A, contextual interpretation (→FC→GE, →FE→EE)
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Although these bars (as well as the subsequent ones, until b. 58) are not written out with notes in A (→FC), Chopin provided them with a R.H. phrase mark. In turn, in the L.H. part a respective phrase mark starts in A only just in b. 48, which suggests that either b. 44-47 are supposed to be devoid of a phrase mark or that they should contain the same slurring as in b. 28-31. According to us, it is the latter that is correct, which was implemented in FE (→EE).
In FC, which does not contain a L.H. phrase mark in signalized b. 44-58 at all, the text is unequivocal – the slurring from b. 28-42 should be repeated, as it was interpreted in GE.  

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: Errors of A

b. 75

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

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In the 2nd half of the bar there are no accidentals before the 2nd and 4th bottom voice quavers in A (→FC,FE→EE1). It must be an oversight of Chopin, who, in his mind, changed the key to D major as the notation of g turned to a. The necessary accidentals were added in GE and EE2; in turn, the incomplete notation was not problematic for the pupils, since none of the teaching copies contains annotations here.
The  visible in FC before the last quaver was added later. 

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , GE revisions , Omission of current key accidentals , Errors of A , Errors repeated in FE

b. 79

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

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A (→FC→GE1) gives 9 as the number of notes in the irregular semiquaver group (instead of 10). The mistake was corrected in FE (→EE) and GE2.
See also bar 4.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions , Rhythmic errors , Errors of A , Errors repeated in GE