The available photograph of A gives no certainty as to the form of the staccato markings over the octaves in the middle of each of these bars, i.e. whether they are wedges or dots. It seems that the marks in b. 171 and 172 are almost certainly wedges, which is also possible in the case of b. 170, which, however, was not reproduced by the editions. In the main text we keep the dots present in our principal source, FE2, in spite of the fact that the marks were chosen (not necessarily accurately) probably by the engraver of FE. This solution is supported by the editorial consistency with respect to the dots over the quintuplet crotchets in b. 170-171 along with the arguments presented therein and by the aforementioned uncertainty of the interpretation of A on the basis of an imperfect photograph.
Compare the passage in the sources»
category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources
issues: Inaccuracies in FE, Wedges, Inaccuracies in A
notation: Articulation, Accents, Hairpins