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 F minor, it is numerous changes (confirmed by crossings-out of initial versions) that draw our attention, e.g.:
- change of the tempo marking from Presto con fuoco,
- change of the articulation markings of the quaver chords in b. 1-2 and 5-6 from staccato dots to slurs,
- the L.H. semiquaver sequence having been shortened in b. 5 – initially, Chopin entered 8 notes, like in the R.H.,
- the semiquaver sequence in b. 7 starting later – initially, it started at the beginning of the bar,
- pedal in b. 12 having been prolonged,
- change of notation of the quavers in b. 16 and of the pitch of the notes in the 2nd half of that bar,
- the passage in b. 17 having been prolonged by starting it an octave higher.
In b. 8 Chopin most probably forgot to cancel an earlier alteration before the penultimate semiquaver.
| Original in: | Biblioteka Narodowa, Warsaw |
| Shelf-mark: | Mus. 93 |
