Op. 28 No. 20, Prelude in C minor

  b. 3

		e1 in A (literal reading→FE,FC→GE), AB & EE2
		e1 in ACh, CGS, EE1 & FES

A glance at the list of sources containing the respective versions suggests that both are undoubtedly authentic; the aim of the editors should be to determine whether we are dealing with Chopin's hesitation or with a final change of concept after the work had been published. However, we have to remember that while the text with a  is irrefutable, the text without a flat may be a result of an oversight, especially since such mistakes – overlooked alteration cancellations – belong to the most frequent ones committed by Chopin. He made such a mistake even in this extremely short Prelude, in b. 3 (in AB) and in b. 8 (w A)*. Therefore, the question we want to answer is more complex – does the missing  really mean the version with e¹, intended by Chopin? If the answer is yes – did Chopin hesitate or did he change the concept? Therefore, below we are not going to discuss the version with e¹, but the text without a .

Chronology of sources and chronology of versions.
The below list includes both absolutely authentic sources and those in which we can only assume Chopinesque influences. The dates in brackets with question marks indicate the alleged moment in which the author of the source heard the Prelude performed by Chopin.

1. without a  – A (→FE), I-IX 1839,
2. e¹ – EE1, before 23 I 1840 (X 1839?),
3. without a  – AB, 30 I 1840,
4. e¹ – FES, the  was entered by Chopin's hand, not before 1844,
5. e¹ – ACh, 20 V 1845,
6. e¹ – CGS, after 1850 (1838?),

• e¹ – 2 transcriptions and a draft of a third one (in manuscripts) by Auguste Franchomme, for cello and piano, 2 cellos and piano and piano for 4 hands, undated**.

The sources that were not written by Chopin's hand require a commentary:

• The reviser of EE1 could have been Ignaz Moscheles, of whom we know for certain that he cooperated with Wessel as a reviser on other works by Chopin***. If this was the case, this source may convey an authentic text of the discussed place as of October 1839, when Chopin played the Preludes (recently published in France) to Moscheles at one of their meetings****. 
• In the case of CGS, irrespective of the actual date it was written down, it is difficult to say how and when exactly George Sand found out about the necessity (or possibility) of restoring e¹. The copy probably includes personal memories of the writer, particularly the most vivid, from the initial period of their cohabitation (2nd half of 1838), when Chopin was completing and perfecting Op. 28. Perhaps there was a written source (today lost) consolidating those memories; it could be, e.g. a copy of FE given to the copyist by Chopin*****). Therefore, the copy may suggest that e¹ had been present in the Chopinesque performances of the Prelude from the very beginning. We also have to mention  in b. 13, which is absent in the published version, but present in AB, the earliest strictly dated source of private nature. The coincidence may be considered a clue supporting the thesis that the version with e¹ was present already in the early stage of the Prelude.
• All 3 transcriptions by Franchomme include the version with e¹ (or its equivalent due to transposition), and he was one of Chopin's closest and most loyal friends.

We can see that e¹ must be the latest version and most probably the only one, since the existence of the version without a  in the earliest dated sources may simply mean that Chopin for at least a year did not notice a mistake in the image of the text of the Prelude that he had in his mind.

^* Other clear examples – see, e.g. the Prelude No. 7 in A Major, b. 13, or No. 18 in F Minor, b. 8.
** the piece of information about the transcriptions of Franchomme and their contents is given by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger in his article – see the characterization of A – on p. 92-94.
*** Jeffrey Kallberg, Chopin in the Marketplace, in "Chopin at the Boundaries: Sex, History, and Musical Genre", Harvard University Press 1996, p. 210. It is about Moscheles' revisions in Opp. 44-49 (turn of 1841-1842) to Wessel's editions.
**** It is mentioned by Moscheles himself in his diary; however, the laconic "he played me etudes and his newest work, 'Preludes'" does not guarantee that they included the Prelude in C Minor...
Ignaz Moscheles, Aus Moscheles Leben - Nach Briefen und Tagebüchern herausgegeben von seiner Frau, Leipzig 1873, vol. 2, p. 39, available online in the Internet Archive.
***** The existence of a copy of Preludes given by Chopin to the writer is confirmed by her daughter Solange Clesinger in her memoirs. 

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Annotations in teaching copies, EE revisions, Omissions to cancel alteration, Errors of A, Annotations in FES

notation: Pitch

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