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 it is the corrections to the R.H. in b. 2 and 6 that draw our attention; the crossing-out in b. 19-22, covering the entire ending of the piece, is particularly noteworthy, since it allows us to follow the multi-stage fine-tuning of this fragment.

Original in: Biblioteka Narodowa, Warsaw
Shelf-mark: Mus. 93