mUltimate Chopin

Op. 63 No. 1, Mazurka in B major

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Slurs

b. 70-71

composition: Op. 63 No. 1, Mazurka in B major

No slur in AI

Slur in FE (→GE,EE)
..

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

b. 71-72

composition: Op. 63 No. 1, Mazurka in B major

Longer slur in AI & FE (contextual interpretation→EEW)

Shorter slur in FE (literal reading→EEC)

No slur in GE
..

In FE a mistake was committed by not continuing the slur in a new line, which was reproduced in EEC as a slur over 4 quavers. In the main text we correct this oversight by leading the slur to c1-e1, as it was interpreted in EEW. The absence of the slur in GE is probably a mistake, although it cannot be excluded that the proof copy of FE1 that served as the basis for GE1 did not yet include this slur – see the note on the slur in bar 69.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in FE , Errors in GE , Uncertain slur continuation

b. 72-73

composition: Op. 63 No. 1, Mazurka in B major

Short slur in AI

Longer slur from crotchet in FE (→EE)

Longer slur from semiquaver in GE
..

category imprint: Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: GE revisions

b. 73-74

composition: Op. 63 No. 1, Mazurka in B major

Longer slur in AI

Shorter slur in FE (→EE)

No slur in GE
..

The longer AI slur suggests that the FE slur could be inaccurate, as in several similar situations. However, the decision to leave out the rest after the 1st quaver in bar 74 in the published version could influence articulation in both discussed bars – the aforementioned 1st quaver is no longer the last one in the group, hence there is no visible reason to divide the slur after it. Due to the above, in the main text we keep the FE slur (→GE,EE) in bar 73, as an exception, and suggest adding a slur in bar 74. Further arguments supporting such a solution:

  • the likelihood that the slur in bar 73 was added in the last stage of the Chopinesque proofreading of FE1, the trace of which would be the absence of the slur in GE;
  • the authentic slur in bar 14, in which a figure including two quavers appears at the beginning of the bar, analogous to the one in bar 74.

Such a combination of the main text slurring is, on the one hand, compliant with the rhythmic detail in bar 74; on the other hand, it leaves the existing principal source slur unchanged.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: Errors in GE

b. 74

composition: Op. 63 No. 1, Mazurka in B major

Short slur in AI

No slur in FE (→GE,→EE)

Slur suggested by the editors
..

The slurring of AI is an element of an earlier, clearly different version of articulation of the entire theme, which we discuss in more details in the note in bar 70. However, it is unlikely that Chopin's final intention would be no slurs in this bar, hence in the main text we suggest a slur modelled after an authentic slur in analogous bar 14.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions; Corrections & alterations