AsI
Main text
AsI - Working autograph of the score
A - Autograph fair copy
compare
  b. 4

e4d4c4 in AsI, total interpretation

e4d4c4 in AsI, probable basic version (no grace notes)

3 times f3 in A

This bar belongs to one of the few places in which Chopin, while working on this variation, changed the shape of the melody formed by the R.H. topmost notes (see also bars 11 and 24). The interpretation of the AsI notation presents some difficulties, since it is uncertain whether the 3 grace notes, which could have been added later, were supposed to complement the figuration or whether they were an original way to mark the change of concept of the topmost notes to the final version. The latter is supported by analogous bar 20, in which AsI includes the final version entered without hesitation. In either case, the notation of these grace notes is puzzling, since each is provided with a different form: a semiquaver, a slashed quaver, a quaver, respectively. Perhaps Chopin wanted to try out different forms of notation to see which one would suit him best.
Moreover, both manuscripts differ slightly in the version of the 2nd and 4th L.H. figures – see the note below.  

Compare the passage in the sources »

category imprint: Interpretations within context; Differences between sources; Corrections & alterations

issues: Terzverschreibung error, Errors in the number of ledger lines, Accompaniment changes, Main-line changes

notation: Pitch

Go to the music

Original in: Pierpont Morgan Library, Nowy Jork