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 B
minor it is the following corrections that are noteworthy:
- corrected pedal markings in b. 2-3 and 45,
- corrected slurs, e.g. in b. 8-12,
- rhythmic and harmonic improvements in b. 16-17,
- changes to the L.H. articulation – staccato dots replaced with slurs in b. 18-21,
- changes to the shape of the R.H. figuration in b. 22 and 29.
The chromatic notation in the Prelude in B minor is generally precise, yet there are a few places in which the altered note was note cancelled, e.g. in b. 12-13, 26-27, 29, while in two other places Chopin did not repeat a 
next to the second note placed within an octave (in b. 8 and 29).
| Original in: | Biblioteka Narodowa, Warsaw |
| Shelf-mark: | Mus. 93 |
