mUltimate Chopin

Op. 2, Variations, complete

Text Compare Notes Sources Description

Issues : Triplet slurs

b. 59

composition: Op. 2, Variations, complete

Additional slurs in sources

No triplet slurs, our suggestion
..

In the main text we omit the curved lines being part of a marking of an irregular group – por. General Editorial Principles, p. 16.

category imprint: Editorial revisions

issues: Triplet slurs

b. 94

composition: Op. 2, Variations, complete

4 notes in AsI, original version

6 notes in AsI, supplemented version

Slur from a1 in A, possible interpretation

Slur from b1 in A, literal reading

2 slurs, lower from b1 in GE (→FESB)

2 slurs, lower from a1 in FE & EE
..

In AsI there are two versions of the group of demisemiquavers: a 4-note one, as in bar 78, and a supplemented 6-note version, as in the remaining sources – see the note above. The meaning of the arc entered under this group is not clear – we assume that it is a tie to a1, but it is possible that it was intended to be a slur referring to demisemiquavers. The range and meaning of the corresponding slur in A and GE1 (→GE2) are also unclear; consequently, each source can be interpreted twofold. Moreover, in GE (→FE,EE,FESB) a second slur was added over the group (most probably arbitrarily). All in all, there are 4 different combinations of slurs, out of which to the main text we choose the slur of A, interpreted literally.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Inaccuracies in GE , GE revisions , Triplet slurs

b. 268

composition: Op. 2, Variations, complete

Slurs delimiting triplets in A (→GE→FE1,EE)

No triplet slurs in FESB
..

In accordance with the General Editorial Principles, p. 16, in the main text we omit the 4 slurs present in the majority of the sources; these slurs are part of the triplet markings, and they unnecessarily overlap the articulation slurs of the same range. The slurs were also omitted by FESB.

category imprint: Differences between sources; Editorial revisions

issues: FE revisions , Triplet slurs

b. 308-309

composition: Op. 2, Variations, complete

..

The corrections and erasures visible in A reveal that Chopin initially wrote a slur only over the semiquaver sextuplet. Similar changes of conventional slurs related to the notation of irregular groups into motivic slurs are also to be found in other pieces by Chopin, e.g. in the Etude in C minor, Op. 10 No. 12, bars 52-62.

category imprint: Corrections & alterations; Source & stylistic information

issues: Corrections in A , Triplet slurs