FED
Main text
As - Autograph sketch
A - Autograph
FC - Fontana's copy
CGS - Copy by George Sand
FE - French edition
FE1 - First French edition
FE2 - Corrected impression of FE1
FED - Dubois copy
FEJ - Jędrzejewicz Copy
FES - Stirling copy
FESch - Scherbatoff copy
GE - German edition
GE1 - First German edition
GE2 - Revised impression of GE1
GE3 - Corrected impression of GE2
EE - English edition
EE1 - First English edition
EE1a - Corrected impression of EE1
EE2 - Revised impression of EE1a
compare
  b. 18-19

Version in As

Rhythm in A (→FEEE)

Rhythm in FC (→GE)

Rhythm in FED

The crossings-out visible in As, although generally illegible, allow us, however, to perform a possible reconstruction of the initial melodic line in these bars (in b. 19 two versions are possible, according to us):

  1. As, the initial version  or ;
  2. As, the final version ;
  3. A and subsequent sources .

A comparison of those versions allows us to observe and evaluate the subtle, but significant transformations that this fragment underwent. In the initial version (1), echoes of the dramatic melodic agitation in b. 16-18 are to be heard – in spite of the halt on the dotted minim in b. 19 – until the beginning of b. 20. In the final version of As (2), it is already the beginning of b. 19 that is calmer, in which we find the basic rhythm of b. 1 and analog. The simplification of the melic layer is also noteworthy – in the versions 1, the e1-a1-fscheme, in which the target fis achieved both from the top and from the bottom, is repeated until the very end. Starting from the version 2, Chopin left only the descending a1-f1 motif, which also clearly signalizes a return of the general mood of the Prelude.

The rhythmic variants at the end of b. 19 – see the note on b. 11 and 19.

Compare the passage in the sources »

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

issues: Main-line changes

notation: Pitch

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