EE1 - First English edition
| Publisher: | Wessel & Co. |
| Date: | (III-VI) 1833 |
| Plate number: | (W & Co. No. 820.) |
| Title: | Introduction et Grandes Variations Brillantes sur le Duo de Don Giovanni, "La ci darem la mano" |
| Dedication: | Monsieur Charles Czerny |
EE1 presents a revised text of GE1; Chopin did not take part in its creation. The edition covers only the version for one piano – so far, the orchestral material of EE1 has not been encountered; there is also no mention of the orchestral accompaniment on the title page. Judging from the information at the bottom of page 25 (the last one containing music text), "orchestral accompaniments" were offered in two versions, S (Solo?) and D (Duo?), which suggests piano reductions of the orchestral part in the version for 2 and 4 hands. Incidentally, the provided prices seem to be wrong – the version for 4 hands is much cheaper (6 shillings) than the version for 2 hands (10 shillings). Generally, versions for 4 hands were slightly more expensive than original solo pieces, cf., e.g. the collective cover of the Nocturnes, Op. 27, featuring a list of over fifty pieces by Chopin, out of which almost half was offered in a version for 4 hands.
The above title is an already shortened version of the original, containing only more or less objective pieces of information familiarising the receiver with the contents and character of the composition. The full version of the duet from Don Giovanni reads "favourite" – Duo favorit, while the entire title was additionally provided with an introductory phrase – Homage [sic!] à Mozart.
The change to the dedication, probably not consulted with Chopin, is also noteworthy. Both extensive, often pompous titles and changes of the dedications' addressees are characteristic features of Wessel's editions.
Examples of revisions being clearly contrary to the text of Chopin:
- removal of
from before e
in the 2nd half of bar 25, confirming e at the beginning of this bar; - shifting the dotted crotchets in bars 55-62 to the beginning of the respective halves of bars.
As was the case with Wessel's other publications, in many places the Chopinesque horizontal accents (long or short) were replaced by vertical ones, e.g. in bars 25-27.
| Original in: | National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh |
| Shelf-mark: | ESM 7/35 (5) |