mUltimate Chopin

Op. 28 No. 4, Prelude in E minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Uncertain slur continuation

b. 16-17

composition: Op. 28 No. 4, Prelude in E minor

No slur in As & FC (→GE)

Slur to end of bar 16 in A (contextual interpretation) & CGS

Slur to bar 17 in A (possible interpretation→FE→EE)
..

In A b. 16 ends the line, while the L.H. slur, going clearly beyond the end of the bar, suggests a continuation. However, there is no ending of that slur in b. 17, hence it is unclear whether Chopin forgot to enter it or whether it is the ending of the slur in b. 16, written with a flourish (cf. e.g. the Scherzo in B Minor, Op. 31, b. 60, 369), that is inaccurate. There is also a possibility that Chopin changed the concept of the slur after having added an octave at the beginning of b. 17 – one can see a crossing-out over the initial version of the 1st quaver in A; it could have concerned the ending of the slur. In the main text we give a slur reaching the end of b. 16; the version of FE (→EE) can be, however, considered an acceptable variant.
The shorter slur of CGS is probably an inaccuracy.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccurate slurs in A , Uncertain slur continuation