mUltimate Chopin

Op. 28 No. 17, Prelude in A♭ major

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Errors of A

b. 19

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

f1 in FCI

f1 in A (→FC→GE, →FE→EE)
..

In the version prepared for print, the top note of the chord on the 5th quaver in the bar, interpreted literally, is an f1, since it is not accompanied by a relevant accidental in this bar. The following arguments prove that it was almost certainly Chopin's mistake:

  •  put before that note in FCI, confirming the authenticity of the version with f1,
  • presence of e1 (played with the L.H.) in that chord,  which, together with f1, would result in an unpleasant cluster – cf. b. 21, in which Chopin avoided a similar cluster by omitting g1.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources; Source & stylistic information

issues: Omission of current key accidentals , Errors of A , Deletions in A

b. 38

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

..

In A (→FE) the top R.H. voice crotchets are devoid of dots. It must be Chopin's oversight – cf. analogous b. 6 and 14. Dots are in FCI as well as in FC (→GE) and EE.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Errors of A , Fontana's revisions , Errors repeated in FE

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