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 this Prelude, it is the inaccuracies concerning the notation of accidentals that are particularly numerous. At the same time, they did not result from exceptional distraction, just the opposite, since Chopin definitely checked the notation for correctness, which is proven by the unnecessary accidentals having been crossed out, e.g. the naturals before a2 in b. 1 or before g2 in b. 7, as well as by accidentals that were most probably introduced into an already written text, e.g. the naturals before e2 in b. 3 or before b1 in b. 10. However, we also come across erroneous interventions, e.g. the 
before c
3 in b. 8 or the 
before f in b. 15 having been crossed out. Nevertheless, most of those inaccuracies are related to a rule according to which no accidental should be put before the 2nd and 8th demisemiquavers of each 8-note group the pitch of which Chopin deemed defined by the preceding notes of the main melodic line (this rule was arbitrarily adopted for this Prelude). A similar "rule" (although less strictly observed) applies to the quavers ending the L.H. figures whenever among the preceding semiquavers there is a note placed an octave higher (cf. b. 3-4).
| Original in: | Biblioteka Narodowa, Warsaw |
| Shelf-mark: | Mus. 93 |
