Chopin Étude Op. 10 No. 2 (A minor) Original Fingerings

[daggenhurstfan]

Hello all,

I'm working out a comfortable fingering for this piece but i'm at a loss trying to ascertain what Chopin's original fingerings were.

Henle is usually supposed to indicate the original fingerings in Italics, but upon comparison with an 1831 edition found here:

https://chopin.lib.uchicago.edu/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0chopin--00-0-0-0prompt-10---4---Document---0-1l--1-en-Zz-1---50-home---001-001-1-0utfZz-8-0&a=d&cl=CL2.12&d=CHOP049.11

there are some inconsistencies. That also goes for the Mikuli edition which in some respects is similar to this document, but also in places not at all.

Does anybody know where to find the original ones? or is it just a mish mash of what people claim to be original?

[j_menz]

All first editions of Chopin's work can be found here, including in this case the first French, English and German editions.

The Wikipedia page on this etude also has a copy of a Proof sheet of Étude Op. 10, No. 2 with fingerings in Chopin's handwriting, though it doesn't further provide a source for the whole.

[daggenhurstfan]

All first editions of Chopin's work can be found here, including in this case the first French, English and German editions.

The Wikipedia page on this etude also has a copy of a Proof sheet of Étude Op. 10, No. 2 with fingerings in Chopin's handwriting, though it doesn't further provide a source for the whole.

Excellent source! thank you so much, is it safe to assume that whatever is printed in these first editions are true to his fingering? And is there any way to access the image with his own handwriting on it past the first 2 bars?

thanks

[j_menz]

is it safe to assume that whatever is printed in these first editions are true to his fingering?

Probably as close as you'll get, but no guarantees.

And is there any way to access the image with his own handwriting on it past the first 2 bars?

Not that I can find, though there must be one out there somewhere.

Those first few bars do demonstrate the principle he used, though. And it is better to learn the principle behind a suggested fingering that it is to simply copy the suggestion unthinkingly.

[pianist1976]

Henle is usually supposed to indicate the original fingerings in Italics

It is a bit confusing because they did an exception with this work. At the preface, they state that they usually put the composer's fingering in italics... but they did the opposite with the Chopin etudes. So, in Henle's edition of Chopin etudes, Chopin's fingering is written in normal numbers and the modern ones in italics (the same Paderewski and PWM do).

Does anybody know where to find the original ones? or is it just a mish mash of what people claim to be original?

Henle has many of the original fingerings but you may take a look to the National Polish Edition PWM edited by Jan Ekier which includes the original editions printed fingerings plus some else annotated by Chopin himself on work copies for his pupils. The Wiener Urtext edition edited by Paul Badura Skoda also has a few of this additional fingerings. Hope it helps.

[daggenhurstfan]

It is a bit confusing because they did an exception with this work. At the preface, they state that they usually put the composer's fingering in italics... but they did the opposite with the Chopin etudes. So, in Henle's edition of Chopin etudes, Chopin's fingering is written in normal numbers and the modern ones in italics (the same Paderewski and PWM do).

Henle has many of the original fingerings but you may take a look to the National Polish Edition PWM edited by Jan Ekier which includes the original editions printed fingerings plus some else annotated by Chopin himself on work copies for his pupils. The Wiener Urtext edition edited by Paul Badura Skoda also has a few of this additional fingerings. Hope it helps.

Wow you have no idea how much this helps, i was so confused about some of the more peculiar fingerings in Op. 25 No. 11 thinking to my self "Now HOW could Chopin suggest something so silly..." glad to see it was the editor!

[barnardo]

It is a bit confusing because they did an exception with this work. At the preface, they state that they usually put the composer's fingering in italics... but they did the opposite with the Chopin etudes. So, in Henle's edition of Chopin etudes, Chopin's fingering is written in normal numbers and the modern ones in italics (the same Paderewski and PWM do).

Henle has many of the original fingerings but you may take a look to the National Polish Edition PWM edited by Jan Ekier which includes the original editions printed fingerings plus some else annotated by Chopin himself on work copies for his pupils. The Wiener Urtext edition edited by Paul Badura Skoda also has a few of this additional fingerings. Hope it helps.

So glad you have found clarification within the Henle edition. Chopin's thorough fingering in op 10/2 is such a valuable guide for myself, and I follow it throughout. One exception being when I perform this etude I like to use the editor's finger 3 suggestions in bars 32-35, while I play these bars as a slightly ad lib cadenza which gives my tendons a little remission before the recap but I'm pretty sure Chopin's fingering even here is best for evenness.