Composers vs Engravers: Stems and Slurs part 8
Posted: 31 Jul 2017, 21:39
The beginning phrases of the middle part of the Chopin Etude op. 10 no. 3 can be difficult to understand and perform. Does the main melody of this phrase, which is repeated four times, really end with those 4 sixteenths decorating an F# as it appears in the Mikuli edition:
The following reduction shows that the top voice actually leads to an "understood" B, and that the sixteenths are completing an inner melody rather than being the main melody at this point. For this reason they should be lightly played and trail off. The B in the left hand "stands in" for the missing B in the top voice.
In composer's autograph, down-stemmed sixteenths unusual for such low notes show the middle voice character of these final sixteenths clearly:
In this phrase and the three that follow, Chopin is increasing the drama by omitting the final tone of each phrase of the melody
until m. 30 where an expected melodic tone of completion finally occurs:
It was correctly engraved in the first editions, but later engravers and editors missed the point and "corrected" the notation as in the Mikuli above. And this has lead to the molto espr. interpretations of these inner voice notes that one sometimes hears.
In the interest of complete disclosure, Chopin does make a slip of the pen the second time the pattern occurs in the autograph and uses upturned stems, but then he immediately corrects himself in the following two phrases. The downturned stems are also used for these four notes throughout the first editions, whose editors "got it", corrected Chopin's slip, and engraved it as the composer intended. Chopin's sketch for this section shows exactly the same unusual stemming for all four phrases:
The following reduction shows that the top voice actually leads to an "understood" B, and that the sixteenths are completing an inner melody rather than being the main melody at this point. For this reason they should be lightly played and trail off. The B in the left hand "stands in" for the missing B in the top voice.
In composer's autograph, down-stemmed sixteenths unusual for such low notes show the middle voice character of these final sixteenths clearly:
In this phrase and the three that follow, Chopin is increasing the drama by omitting the final tone of each phrase of the melody
until m. 30 where an expected melodic tone of completion finally occurs:
It was correctly engraved in the first editions, but later engravers and editors missed the point and "corrected" the notation as in the Mikuli above. And this has lead to the molto espr. interpretations of these inner voice notes that one sometimes hears.
In the interest of complete disclosure, Chopin does make a slip of the pen the second time the pattern occurs in the autograph and uses upturned stems, but then he immediately corrects himself in the following two phrases. The downturned stems are also used for these four notes throughout the first editions, whose editors "got it", corrected Chopin's slip, and engraved it as the composer intended. Chopin's sketch for this section shows exactly the same unusual stemming for all four phrases: