mUltimate Chopin

Op. 23, Ballade in G minor

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Issues : Corrections in A

b. 75

composition: Op. 23, Ballade in G minor

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The way the notes are arranged in A indicates that a correction was made – two quavers and a triplet beam were added. Initially, there was probably only one note there, i.e. c2 (crotchet).

category imprint: Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Corrections in A , Main-line changes

b. 112-113

composition: Op. 23, Ballade in G minor

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The evolution of the slurring in these bars, visible in the deletions and corrections of A, could have looked like as follows:

  • Chopin started from 4 half-bar slurs in b. 112-113;
  • the slur in the 1st half of b. 113 was deleted and replaced with a shorter one, encompassing only the b2-a2 motif (the slur of the same range concerning the bottom voice could have been introduced at this stage as well); at the same time, a change was made to the slur in the 2nd half of the bar, i.e. it should start earlier – from the g2 quaver;
  • eventually, Chopin combined 3 slurs (the second in b. 112 and both in b. 113) in one, which he prolonged to the 1st chord in b. 114.

The slur received its final shape at the stage of proofreading FE – Chopin prolonged it to the beginning of b. 115.

category imprint: Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Corrections in A , Deletions in A

b. 120-121

composition: Op. 23, Ballade in G minor

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The deletions visible in A in these bars and empty space after the most probably erased g1 note under the a2 quaver in b. 121, which was initially most probably a g2 (it did not have a ledger line that would cross it), reveal that initially the 2nd half of b. 120 and the 1st half of b. 121 were analogous to b. 118-119: . The missing mordent in this version allows us to imagine two scenarios of the changes:

  • the idea to diversify b. 120-121 with respect to b. 118-119 came to Chopin when he was just about to write a mordent in the initial version of b. 121;
  • initially, there were no mordents in both places; it was only the melodically developed version of b. 120-121 that prompted Chopin to add an ornament 2 bars earlier.

category imprint: Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

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

b. 136

composition: Op. 23, Ballade in G minor

più vivo in A

No indication in FE (→GE,EE)
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The più vivo indication was entered into A instead of the earlier sempre più vivo (which was deleted). According to us, the omission of sempre could have been correlated with it having been added before più animato in b. 126 (that sempre having been added later is evidenced by an unnaturally greater gap between sempre and più than between più and animato). In this situation, forgoing the indications in two places for a single più animato in b. 126, which we can see in FE (→GE,EE), can be considered the last stage of shaping the agogic changes in this fragment – Chopin could have assumed that such a solution would define here the relationships between the tempi in a simplest and most accurate manner, since it is from this bar that a new section begins, featuring a clearly different texture.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Errors in FE , Corrections in A , Deletions in A , Authentic corrections of FE

b. 140

composition: Op. 23, Ballade in G minor

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In A (→FE→GE), there is no accidental to the 4th L.H. crotchet. Chopin's patent, as it seems, oversight went unnoticed by FE and the majority of GE; it was corrected only by EE and GE1a.

In A, the L.H. part was being corrected in this bar; consequently, due to deletions, Chopin was forced to write the final version on an adjacent stave. However, the flat was not overlooked due to the corrections, since it was also absent in the initial version of notation. The change concerned mainly rhythm, i.e. there were rests instead of the 3rd and 6th crotchets: . Before deleting the entire bar, Chopin probably changed the last chord too:  (both examples are to be interpreted in the key of E major, featuring A and a notes).

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: EE revisions , Corrections in A , GE revisions , Deletions in A , Accompaniment changes , Inaccuracies in A , Errors repeated in GE , Errors repeated in FE