b. 342

4 staccato dots in AsI

7 staccato dots in A

Wedges in GE (→FE,EE)

In A, in the L.H. part, Chopin uses in bars 341-348 and 355-362 two types of staccato marks – dots and wedges. The marks are inconsistent:

  • the B quavers in bars 341 and 355 are provided with wedges, while the B quaver at the beginning of bars 342 and 356 is provided with a dot;
  • the F-f octaves in bars 343-344 and 361-362 are provided with wedges, in bars 347-348 with dots, while in bars 357-358 – with dots and a wedge;
  • the five-quaver L.H. sequence is provided with dots in bars 348, 358 and 362, but in bar 348 – with wedges;
  • the b quavers after the triplets in bar 345 are provided with dots, after the triplets in bar 359 – with wedges.

In the main text, however, we keep them due to two reasons:

  • differentiating between both types of marks does not pose any problems in the vast majority of situations;
  • the wedges present in the editions were almost certainly arbitrarily introduced by the engraver of GE1 (see bars 271-272).

Similar inconsistencies concern other marks too, e.g. the accents in bar 343 (> and a wedge), 347 (> and a wedge) and in bars 357 and 361 (>). In all cases, the general picture of music remains the same, but these small differences could be used as suggestions for possible performance details.

category imprint: Differences between sources

issues: GE revisions, Wedges

notation: Articulation, Accents, Hairpins

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