NOTATIO

Another "questionable" spot from the German 1st edition of Chopin's Etude op.10 no . 4:
1. Why is there no slur in the LH of measure 4 when there were slurs over the same music in the LH of measures 1-3?
2. Why does the slur in measures 5-6 start where it does? No one would expect this.
2. Why the up-stemmed notes in the LH on beat 3 of measure 5?

I think that attempting to answer these questions can tell us something about notation and engraving during Chopin's time.

Answers:

1. Slurs in the Classical canon mean legato and legato only; they do not show musical phrases ("phrasing".) except when a phrase happens to be the same as a legato area. And in piano music, a single slur was often used to show legato in both hands, particularly when both hands are playing on the same staff. This explains the absence of the LH slur in 4-5. The slur over the upper staff takes care of both hands.

2. Chopin intended the LH 16ths in measures 4-6 to form one long legato run. The LH slur in 5 simply continues from where the RH slur leaves off. It is actually possible that in the original fair copy, which has been lost, a single large S-shaped slur combined both of these slurs. S-shaped slurs sometimes appear even in runs on a single staff in the MS of various composers of the time.

3. There is a melodic motive G#-A-G# that runs through measures 4-7. One sees it several times in both hands starred in the example above. The large stars show the motive in the LH run in measure 5-6. Each of the three groups of eighth 16th-notes in this run represents a single note in the motive. Chopin used stem direction to show this structure. Any other stemming would have worked again the unity of the whole motive or its constituent parts. The stemming is exactly like this in the composer's MS sketch.

One notes that Chopin actually had to change stem direction on beat 3 of measure 5 to produce the nonstandard stemming. It would have been easier for him (and more standard as well) to have continued the down stems from the upper staff.

Here is an example from the Chopin's final MS of the Etude op. 10 no. 12. It seems to verify my suspicion of a broken S-shaped slur in the lost final MS of op. 10 no. 4.

The two pairs of measure are almost identical accept for the slurs. The second one breaks off strangely and indeed is a broken S-shaped slur.
It seems that Chopin is intent on placing the slur on the note head side of the run because of its expressive nature, but then ran into the problem with the upward stems in the LH, which were required so that there would be no change in stem direction after the notes move to the lower staff.

Here is the passage in the first French edition, which retains the stem directions but modifies the slurs:
Here is the passage in the first German edition, which "corrects' the stem direction as well as the slurs:
Chopin might more easily have kept the stem direction the same until the next measure, as in the first German edition, but he didn't. And he didn't each of the four times this passage occurs.

Chopin's stem direction is retained in the current Wiener Urtext edition, which seems to recognize the significance of unusual stemming.

Chopin seems to be fighting a battle with himself as to how to notate the slur. The third time the passage occurs, he retains the broken S-shaped slur, but then the fourth time he is back to the original version. He is clearly not satisfied with either version, nor the obvious alternative of the slur on the outside as it has been engraved since the first edition.

Note also that the first slur ends at the end of the measure rather than continuing on to the B, because it is the C on the fourth beat of measure 2 that leads to the B, not the G. This has been "corrected" in many later editions.

What is clear is that Chopin considered matters like stem direction and slur positioning an important means of musical communication.

Agree with you!

Do you see, both are missing the word "energico" and "cresc" in M2, and "^" at the first note and
Also the tempo is = 76.
Also wrong stem direction in M2, RH.

Is there any Urtext edition?
Maybe Cantilena Press?

OCTO wrote:Agree with you!

Thank you, OCTO.!

OCTO wrote:Do you see, both are missing the word "energico" and "cresc" in M2, and "^" at the first note and
Also the tempo is = 76.

Chopin often made additions, corrections and other changes in proof copies that are now lost.

OCTO wrote:Also wrong stem direction in M2, RH.

I should have pointed this out. This is another case of wrong = right. It keeps the stem direction the same throughout the RH part, which is much better. Chopin thought in larger spans on the keyboard than any previous composer and wrote in an unusual "orchestral" way that never sounds like an orchestra, but always a piano. Stemming of this kind clarifies his large canvas.

OCTO wrote:Is there any Urtext edition?

The best Urtext of the Etudes and other works of Chopin I know of is the Wiener Urtext that I mentioned. The Etudes edited by pianist and scholar Paul Badura-Skodaare is particularly outstanding. He includes all the variant readings in the text, which is a first. There is also a new Polish national edition ed. by Jan Ekier that I plan to order.

Maybe Cantilena Press?

It is coming. It will be part of a book that I am writing on the technique used in playing the Chopin Etudes.

John Ruggero wrote:a book that I am writing on the technique used in playing the Chopin Etudes

Ohhhh I’m going to want that! Of course you’ll let us know when it’s out, yes?

MJCube wrote:Ohhhh I’m going to want that! Of course you’ll let us know when it’s out, yes?

Thank you very much! I will indeed. But I have worked on this on and off for years so I am not sure when it will happen. In the meantime, you could read my book on piano technique available at www.cantilenapress.com.