Composers vs Engravers: Stems and Slurs part 4

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John Ruggero
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Composers vs Engravers: Stems and Slurs part 4

Post by John Ruggero »

In the Etude op 10 no 8, Chopin is again fighting a problem in stem direction. He would prefer to keep up stems in the left hand top voice even in the face of the right hand descent into the lower staff as in measure 1, but runs into a problem in measure 3 when the right hand part gets so close to the left hand that he is forced to use a down stem:
Chopin op 10 no 8 stems 1.jpeg
Chopin op 10 no 8 stems 1.jpeg (45.53 KiB) Viewed 4159 times
The same pattern repeats in measures 5 and 7 (not shown) and Chopin does the same thing. But he seems to be bothered by this solution and in 19, when the pattern recurs a third time, he tests a new approach, two down stems for measure 21 (measure 3 in the example):
Chopin op 10 no 8 stems 2.jpeg
Chopin op 10 no 8 stems 2.jpeg (97.14 KiB) Viewed 4159 times
From this point throughout the rest of the piece, he uses two down stems for every recurrence of the eighth note pairs, including the return of the opening section:
Chopin op 10 no 8 stems 3.jpg
Chopin op 10 no 8 stems 3.jpg (50.86 KiB) Viewed 4159 times
He has apparently found his preferred solution, assumes that the engravers will catch on, and doesn't bother to correct the opening measures.

But the first edition engravers engrave it exactly as it stands, experiments and all! Many later editions do the same or regularize the stemming based on some system of their own. Of the several editions that I am comparing, only the Paderewski edition "gets it" and uses down stems for all of the 8th note pairs.

Here again we see Chopin's preference for keeping a constant stem direction within a musical idea and coming up with a creative way to get as close as possible to this ideal within practical limits.
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MJCube
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Re: Composers vs Engravers: Stems and Slurs part 4

Post by MJCube »

I’m surprised so many editors did not just put them all stem-down. The inconsistency across the piece (which you very nicely illustrated) makes those few early up-stems seem not deliberately meaningful, compared with other non-standard stem directions we’ve been observing. How will you do them? Does this warrant a footnote?
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John Ruggero
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Re: Composers vs Engravers: Stems and Slurs part 4

Post by John Ruggero »

I think that editors (engravers) have not always taken experimentation into account. Chopin tries a notation, doesn't like it, tries something else until he gets it right, and then stays with it for the remainder. There is a famous case of this in a Mozart Sonata where he fools around with notating a turn on each return of a rondo theme until he finally gets it right. But again the editors usually engrave what they see in front of them.

There will be copious footnotes in my edition, pointing out the various issues in a way practical for performing musicians. Since this is an engraving issue and there are so many more major textual ones, it probably won't make the cut.
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