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.
This short and simple Prelude does not contain many corrections. The two places in which Chopin moved a bass note an octave lower (b. 13) or higher (b. 24) seem to be most interesting.
The notation of b. 21 turned out to be problematic: the crisscrossing slurs were omitted by the copyist, while to the engraver of FE they were completely unclear. The persons deciphering A interpreted the mistake in the pedal markings in b. 24 in the same manner, yet inaptly, according to us.
| Original in: | Biblioteka Narodowa, Warsaw |
| Shelf-mark: | Mus. 93 |
