mUltimate Chopin

Op. 23, Ballade in G 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. 64

composition: Op. 23, Ballade in G minor

..

All sources include a  before the A minim. In the main text we omit this superfluous – cautionary (?) – accidental.

category imprint: Editorial revisions

issues: Cautionary accidentals , Last key signature sign

b. 65-67

composition: Op. 23, Ballade in G minor

..

It is only GE that include the correct version of the R.H. rest in the 2nd half of b. 65. In A and EE, there is only a minim rest (without a dot), while in FE there is no rest at all. In the 1st half of b. 67, A (→FE→EE) contain only a minim rest too, which suggests that it was considered to be filling a half of the bar (analogously to a semibreve rest).

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources

issues: EE revisions , Errors in FE , GE revisions , EE inaccuracies , Inaccuracies in A

b. 66

composition: Op. 23, Ballade in G minor

No indication in A

ritenuto in FE (→GE,EE)
..

The ritenuto indication was added – almost certainly by Chopin – in the stage of proofreading FE (→GE,EE).

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Authentic corrections of FE

b. 68

composition: Op. 23, Ballade in G minor

in A

     in FE (→EE)

    in GE
..

In A, there is only one  mark, at the beginning of the bar. The remaining ones were added in the stage of proofreading FE (→EE) – along with the markings in the next bars – almost certainly by Chopin. One can have doubts whether all the marks entered by the composer were put in the correct place, since Chopin would often put them inaccurately, while the engravers would sometimes combine them with a wrong note. It is particularly the second  mark that seems to be placed too far (cf. b. 72, in which the 2nd  mark is placed certainly a crotchet too late). Due to the above, according to us, both versions of the editions may be considered equal variants.

In both cases, "harmonic legato" is probably to be applied (holding the chord's elements with fingers): .

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: GE revisions , Authentic corrections of FE

b. 68-69

composition: Op. 23, Ballade in G minor

Slurs from 2nd note in A, literal reading

Slurs from 1st note in FE (→GE,EE)

Different slurs suggested by the editors
..

It is uncertain where the L.H. slurs should start in these bars. In A, it seems that the slurs run from the 2nd crotchet of the bar, but the interpretation of A on the basis of a photograph is always prone to error. On the other hand, the engraver of FE (→GE,EE) would often put slurs in a routine manner, adjusting them to the rhythmic structures (e.g. in b. 32-33, 35 or 37-39). In the main text we adopt a hybrid solution, i.e. we consider only the slur of A in b. 69 to be inaccurate (cf. the unequivocal slur in identical b. 77). The source versions can be regarded as equal variants.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FE , Inaccurate slurs in A