mUltimate Chopin

Op. 28 No. 24, Prelude in D minor

Text Compare Notes Sources Description
Select: 
Category
All
Graphic ambiguousness
Interpretations within context
Differences between sources
Editorial revisions
Corrections & alterations
Source & stylistic information
Notation
All
Pitch
Rhythm
Slurs
Articulation, Accents, Hairpins
Verbal indications
Pedalling
Fingering
Ornaments
Shorthand & other
Importance
All
Important
Main
Undo Clear

b. 73-74

composition: Op. 28 No. 24, Prelude in D minor

 from bar 73 (literal reading→FE→EE)

 in bar 74 in FE (→EE)
..

 is written in A in such a way that it can be combined both with the chord in the 2nd half of b. 73 and the beginning of the roulade in b. 74. According to us, if Chopin wanted it to concern b. 74, he could have entered it there to avoid any doubts. Due to the above reason, we consider the interpretation of FE (→EE) to be correct, in which the indication is in force from the middle of b. 73.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FC

b. 73-76

composition: Op. 28 No. 24, Prelude in D minor

Slur in A, literal reading

Slur in FC (→GE)

Slur in FE (→EE)
..

In A the range of the slur beginning in b. 74 is vague due to crossings-out. In FC Fontana considered the line that seems to prolong the slur until b. 76 to be valid. Musically speaking, it is questionable; in terms of graphics, it is questionable too, because the final fragment of that line is in the area covered by the crossings-out. The interpretation of FE is much more likely – the undeleted part of the extension of the initial slur reaches the minim in b. 75, yet that initial slur ends on the last note in b. 74. In the main text we give the literal interpretation of the notation of A, which is both pianistically and musically natural; it includes the part of the slur that was not covered by the crossings-out.
In FC (→GE) it is also the beginning of the slur that is inaccurate.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FC

b. 74-77

composition: Op. 28 No. 24, Prelude in D minor

..

The initial version of the ending of the Prelude (which can be deciphered from under the crossings-out in A) differed quite significantly from the final one – the passage reached only D, and the piece ended an octave higher: . In that version, it is noteworthy that the passage contains e3, e2, e and E, but not e1.

The next version may have looked like the one presented below: . Eventually, Chopin forwent all the aforemen­tioned e notes (he only left E1, which was added later) and added B1, thus providing the general part of the passage with a homogeneous course, based on the b-a-f-d sequence.

category imprint: Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Corrections in A , Deletions in A , Main-line changes

b. 74

composition: Op. 28 No. 24, Prelude in D minor

No fingering in A (→FE,FC→GE)

Fingering in EE

Fingering written into FED
..

In the main text we give the fingering of FED, coming from a lesson with Chopin. The fingering given in EE would most probably comply with it if it were not for the mistake in the last given digit, which was almost certainly supposed to mark the 4th, and not the 5th finger (the mistake indicates that the person adding the fingering was used to the "continental" style of notation).

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Annotations in teaching copies , EE revisions , Annotations in FED , Errors in EE

b. 75-77

composition: Op. 28 No. 24, Prelude in D minor

No R.H. rests in A (→FE)

Rests in FC (→GE)

Rests & pause in EE
..

The rests added on the upper staff in FC (→GE) & EE suggest playing the three D1 minims with the L.H. which is almost certainly against Chopin's intention.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Fontana's revisions