In the entire passage Chopin did not insert any accidentals except the naturals to the 1st and 3rd notes (e and a). The necessity to raise subsequent a to a is beyond dispute; however, the use of e1, e2 and e3 would be harmonically and pianistically possible. Nevertheless, the majority of the arguments support the use of e1, e2 and e3:
- in figurations based on repeating a certain figure in various octaves (most often arpeggios or scales), Chopin considered the accidentals put in the first figure to be valid in the entire sequence. He would mark possible exceptions with cautionary accidentals, e.g. the flats to b2 in bars 60 and 62. If he had heard e1 in the discussed passage, most probably he would have provided it with a ;
- the above reasoning is partially confirmed by AsI, which has a before the penultimate note of beat 1 (e3);
- the harmonic context is based on an F major chord (without e seventh), which is confirmed both by the orchestral part and the piano chords (on the 3rd quaver and at the end of the bar). The e notes in the arpeggio would be regarded chord tones, giving an impression of a dominant seventh chord (F7). By contrast, we hear the altered e notes as non-chord tones, which contributes to the impression that the F major chord is regarded as the harmonic basis;
- the naturals raising e1 to e1 and e2 to e2 were added in GE (→FE,EE) (the latter also influences e3; a third was added only by GE3), even if inserted by the reviser, were not questioned by Chopin in the stage of proofreading FE1.
As far as the missing naturals to a1 and a2 are concerned, in GE1 (→FE1,GE2→FESB) it was only the one to a2 that was added, which was supplemented by EE and GE3.
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources
issues: EE revisions, Accidentals in different octaves, GE revisions, Authentic corrections of GE, Inaccuracies in A
notation: Pitch