what does KKIVa no.16 means???
The matter of Chopin’s publications is a real mess:
1. Most of his works were published at the same time (all claiming to be “first editions”) in Germany, France and England. Many times there are discrepancies amongst these first editions. Which one is correct?
2. Chopin made several alterations on the scores of these editions, These alterations survive on the copies of his pupils, the ones considered most important being the ones in Jane Stirling’s copies (important because so close to his death, and therefore they can be said to be the closest to his true intentions, his “final version”).
3. Editors in the past had no qualms in modifying Chopin’s music (Cortot, for instance adds notes and change fingerings).
4. With Chopin’s death a number of manuscripts that was probably never intended for publication was. Hence all the Op. Posth. As recently as 1955 new Chopin manuscripts were still being discovered (and published).
As you can imagine, musicologists have had a field day debating a) the chronological order of the works and b) which is the most “authentic” version.
As a result a number of scholars came up with different numbering systems (not unlike the ones for Haydn and Scarlatti amongst others).
KK refers to one of these: Chopin cataloguer Krystyna Kobylanska – who was also for a time curator of the Chopin Museum, and who in 1977 come up with her KK numbering system.
Best wishes,
Bernhard.
Topic: Chopin Opus KKIVa no 16