The pedalling markings in these bars were not clearly and precisely marked in any of the sources. There were several reasons for this:
- The inaccuracy of A – subsequent lines of the text are written without spaces in this Prelude, as a result of which there was no place for pedalling markings, added later. Wherever the
marks fell under the lowest L.H. notes, A in b. 1 and 2, D in b. 5, in order to avoid that the markings blend in with beams or stems, Chopin would write a in front of those elements. When interpreted literally, in accordance with the rule of correlating the marks vertically, they fall already before the previous semiquavers. The 
marks, which precede them, are also placed earlier. The correct interpretation of the markings is indicated by the unequivocal notation of analogous figures in b. 3-4 as well as by the harmonic sense (the last semiquaver in b. 4 still belongs to the dominant chord). - The inaccuracies in the decipherment or the mistakes in the interpretation of the notation of A by Fontana and the engraver of FE. In the case of FC, it is paradoxically the too literal reproduction of the notation of A that is to be considered a mistake of interpretation – the copyist had space to write the marks under the right notes, but placed them before them (in accordance with A), which complicated the work of the engraver of GE (see below). Moreover, the copyist increased the gaps between the and marks, which, at the end of b. 2 and at the beginning of b. 4, moved the asterisks a semiquaver earlier. In FE it is also both marks in b. 1 and the mark at the end of b. 4 that were placed too early.
- The mistakes (the final pair of markings in b. 4 was overlooked) and revisions of GE, in which attempts were made to adjust the markings to clear rhythmic structures, e.g. groups encompassed with one beam or bars (a frequent practice in Breitkopf & Härtel's publications).
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources
issues: Inaccuracies in FE, Errors in GE, GE revisions, Inaccuracies in FC, Inaccuracies in A
notation: Pedalling
