Xaver
Scharwenka has seen fit to edit Klindworth, and gives a D natural
in the Augener edition. That he is wrong internal testimony
abundantly proves. Even Willeby, who personally prefers the D
natural, thinks Chopin intended the E flat, and quotes a similar
effect twenty-eight bars later. He might have added that the
entire composition contains examples--look at the first bar of
the valse episode in the bass. As Niecks thinks, "This dissonant
E flat may be said to be the emotional keynote of the whole poem.
It is a questioning thought that, like a sudden pain, shoots
through mind and body."
There is other and more confirmatory evidence. Ferdinand Von
Inten, a New York pianist, saw the original Chopin manuscript at
Stuttgart. It was the property of Professor Lebert (Levy), since
deceased, and in it, without any question, stands the much
discussed E flat. This testimony is final. The D natural robs the
bar of all meaning. It is insipid, colorless.
Kullak gives 60 to the half note at the moderato. On the third
page, third bar, he uses F natural in the treble.
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