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 G
minor, it is the following corrections that are noteworthy:
- con fuoco having been crossed out after Presto in b. 1;
- change of the position of the 1st L.H. chord and departure from a regular semitone melodic sequence at the end of b. 12;
- changes to the R.H. part in b. 24-26;
- changes to the arrangement and position of chords in b. 33-39 and 68-70.
In the case of the corrections in b. 24-26 and 36, their final result may be questionable.
The text of A is not free from defects – many necessary accidentals are missing, e.g. in b. 3 and 43, 24-27, 30.
| Original in: | Biblioteka Narodowa, Warsaw |
| Shelf-mark: | Mus. 93 |
