It is difficult to determine whether and which of the versions (GE or FE) Chopin deemed final, particularly since each of them may simply be a mistake:
- the engraver of GE could have, e.g. confused the bars (could have taken this one for the following bar) – hence the only authentic version would be the one with 3 three-note chords (FE),
- it is likely that the copyist or the engraver of FE did not notice immediately the change in the scheme of the accompanying quavers – in the previous bars, even quavers were generally a repetition of the preceding ones. Therefore, the only authentic version would be conveyed by GE (three-note chords and dyads alternately from the very beginning).
If we assume that both versions are authentic, the version of GE could be considered later if Chopin entered the correction into [A] after [FC] had been finished or the version of FE if he added f
on the 2nd quaver while proofreading that edition.
Stylistic arguments do not allow us to give preference to any of those versions either:
- in GE the new scheme of accompanying quavers – three-note chord/dyad – is defined from the beginning of the final phrase, calming the harmonic movement;
- in FE dyads appear naturally together with the semiquaver bass motifs.
In this situation, to the main text we adopt the version of the principal source, i.e. FE. The version of EE1 is most probably a mistake of the engraver, revised in EE2 (→EE3).
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Differences between sources
notation: Pitch