mUltimate Chopin

Op. 28 No. 17, Prelude in A♭ major

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Verbal indications

b. 1

composition: Op. 28 No. 17, Prelude in A♭ major

Allegretto quasi Andantino in FCI

Allegretto in A (→FC→GE, →FE→EE)
..

According to us, the fact that the more specific tempo indication was abandoned in the final version of the Prelude may mean that the shape of the piece had crystallized – the double indication of FCI actually introduces an element of uncertainty, which suspends the tempo of the piece somewhere between Allegretto and Andantino.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Changes of tempo markings

b. 19-23

composition: Op. 28 No. 17, Prelude in A♭ major

cresc. - - - from bar 20 in FCI

cre - scen - do from bar 19 in A (→FC→GE, →FE→EE)
..

If FCI accurately represents the notation of [AI], the stimulus to begin the crescendo was initially the five-quaver ascending L.H. sequence in b. 20. According to us, this version may be considered an acceptable variant; on the basis thereof, one can also shape accordingly the course of the crescendo starting – in accordance with the main text – in b. 19.
We believe that the placement of those indications – over the top stave (in A) or under the bottom one (in FCI) – results from lack of space between the staves; in the case of A the reason were also the crossed-out  and  hairpins, which were initially written there (see the next note).  

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

b. 24-25

composition: Op. 28 No. 17, Prelude in A♭ major

in FCI

dim. - - - in A (→FC→GE, →FE→EE)
..

The  marking represents an earlier, less developed dynamic concept – the next indication in FCI would be the whole-bar  mark over the R.H. part in b. 32, in the final version replaced with a long accent in the middle of that bar. In A, in the discussed bars, Chopin initially wrote other markings too – two more or less whole-bar  marks. 

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

issues: Corrections in A , Deletions in A

b. 65

composition: Op. 28 No. 17, Prelude in A♭ major

 in FCI, FC (→GE) & AM

No marking in A (→FE→EE)
..

The missing  in A (→FE→EE) must be Chopin's inadvertence; while adding those marks on the last page of the Prelude, he could have easily overlooked this bar, written as the only one still on the previous page of A (see above, the note on the slur). The fact that this note was also supposed to be accented (like all the others) is proven by FCI, AM as well as by a testimony of Chopin's pupil, Madame Dubois, conveyed by Ignacy Jan Paderewski:* 

"I remember once when I was playing the 17th Prelude of Chopin, Madame Dubois said that Chopin himself used to play that bass note [A1] in the final section (in spite of playing everything else diminuendo) with great strength. He always struck that note in the same way and with the same strength, because of the meaning he attached to it. He accentuated that bass note—he proclaimed it, because the idea of that Prelude is based on the sound of an old clock in the castle which strikes the eleventh hour. [...] Chopin always insisted the bass note should be struck with the same strength—no diminuendo, because the clock knows no diminuendo.”

Fontana, who knew the Prelude from a still earlier version, apparently memorized that effect, since he added  in FC (→GE).

* I. J. Paderewski, Mary Lawton, The Paderewski Memoirs, London 1939, p. 154.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Errors of A , Fontana's revisions