mUltimate Chopin

Op. 44, Polonaise in F♯ minor

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

Pitch

b. 48

composition: Op. 44, Polonaise in F♯ minor

Chord with b1 in GE & FE (→EE)

Chord without b1 suggested by the editors
..

The chord with an additional b1 note we encounter in the sources is most probably Chopin's mistake, which is supported by the following arguments:

  • there are no musical reasons to differentiate b. 48 and 281 from b. 22, 74 and 307, in which GE and FE (→EE1) feature chords with three sounds;
  • In [A] Chopin wrote a four-note chord with b1 only once in b. 48, since b. 268-310 were certainly marked in an abridged manner as a repetition of b. 35-77;
  • b1 is necessary a bar earlier (b. 21 and anal.) to clearly mark a dominant seventh chord following Bin the preceding bar;
  • an erroneous repetition of the beginning of b. 47 or removal of the b1 note only in b. 22 and 74 (disregarding b. 48) constitute highly likely mechanical causes of the mistake.

Taking into account the above, in all five places we give a chord without b1. In EE2 (→EE3) an inverse revision was performed, i.e. all the discussed places include a four-note chord.

category imprint: Editorial revisions

issues: Omitted correction of an analogous place

b. 49-50

composition: Op. 44, Polonaise in F♯ minor

3 d2 in GE

5 d & 4 d2 in FE (→EE1)

4 d & 4 d2 in EE2 (→EE3)
..

As was the case with b. 23-24 and analogous, we base the main text on FE, which was proofread by Chopin; we only omit the d note, which was certainly added by mistake to the A-a demisemiquaver in b. 50. That note was also abandoned by EE2 (→EE3), probably on the basis of a comparison with analogous b. 283.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: EE revisions , Inaccuracies in FE , Accompaniment changes , Authentic corrections of FE , Errors repeated in EE

b. 58-59

composition: Op. 44, Polonaise in F♯ minor

..

In FE1 there is not a single  raising g to g (in various octaves). The mistake, almost certainly committed by Chopin, was corrected in FE2 and EE with FE2 limiting itself to the g1-g2 octave in b. 58 and L.H. g1 in b. 59. The same applies to b. 291-292.

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Accidentals in different octaves , Inaccuracies in FE , Omission of current key accidentals , FE revisions , Errors repeated in FE

b. 62-64

composition: Op. 44, Polonaise in F♯ minor

..

The issue whether the accidentals to the small notes apply to the normal-sized notes was not clearly stated in Chopin's time, as it turns out. In GE and FE there is no accidental before the bottom note of the L.H. chord on the 3rd beat in b. 62 and 63, d, which, at least theoretically, can be misleading. Naturals were only added in EE – in EE1 in b. 63 and in EE2 in b. 62.

FE2 added a not so justified cautionary  before d2 in b. 63. The accidental is also present in EE which added yet other cautionary naturals – before d2 in b. 62 and 64 as well as d1 in b. 63-64.

In the main text we include only the naturals before d in b. 62-63.
Naturals in those places were also being added in the analogous b. 295-297.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: EE revisions , Inaccuracies in GE , Inaccuracies in FE , FE revisions

b. 67

composition: Op. 44, Polonaise in F♯ minor

..

As was the case with b. 41, in FE (→EE1) there is no  restoring g2 in the last octave in the bar. The mistake was corrected in EE2 (→EE3), where sharps were added next to both notes of that octave. The same version is in GE, which is also almost certainly an editorial revision, since these accidentals are absent in b. 274 and 300, which were marked in [A] in an abridged manner as a repetition of b. 41 and 67 and, consequently, could not differ from them.
In the main text we add only the necessary  next to g2.   

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Omissions to cancel alteration , GE revisions , Errors repeated in FE , Errors repeated in EE