Introduction

Chopin's first editions pose major challenges to musicians and musicologists alike because of their considerable diversity and complex interrelationships, not to mention the practical constraints that to date have prevented the comprehensive comparison and evaluation required to understand their creative history. Inadequate copyright protection between the principal European countries during the early nineteenth century compelled Chopin to employ different publishers in France, Germany and England, thus giving rise to three 'first editions' of most pieces. Each is unique, as a result of his idiosyncratic editorial methods and ongoing compositional revisions. At different stages in his career Chopin provided his publishers with various types of Stichvorlage, including autographs, annotated proof sheets and scribal copies. In each case, the music continually evolved as autograph or scribal copies were prepared or proof sheets corrected, resulting in significant differences between the multiple first editions. Further differences arose from the interventions of house editors and proofreaders in successive impressions which until recently have simply been regarded as 'first editions' – an error of judgement that has undermined much Chopin scholarship. (For further discussion see Publication histories.) Only now is the importance of these differences fully realised − likewise that of the first editions as a whole, which constitute one of the principal sources of knowledge of Chopin's music. Until they have been thoroughly analysed and conclusions drawn about his developing musical conceptions as well as the nineteenth-century practices that surrounded them, his output cannot be understood in its historical context or its content accurately reproduced in any modern edition. The very identity of the Chopin work is at stake.

The Annotated Catalogue of Chopin's First Editions represents the most ambitious and comprehensive attempt to date to unravel the extraordinary complexity surrounding the first editions. It begins with a survey of the publication history of Chopin's music within each of the countries concerned, and by offering some observations about music publishing in the nineteenth century more generally. Although focused on the Chopin first editions in particular, the conclusions that it presents are potentially relevant to the music of his contemporaries, all of whom released their compositions under the same conditions and often with the same publishers.

The brief introduction that follows below is drawn from the Annotated Catalogue, to which reference should be made for further details and additional bibliographic information. The extracts here will assist users of CFEO's Online Collection in contextualising the large number of first editions that it contains, and in providing a background to the source descriptions and publication histories within the CFEO resource.

Legal contexts

The legislation governing publication practices and copyright protection during Chopin's lifetime and after his death varied considerably between the principal European nations. This affected not only the nature and quantity of the contractual agreements which the composer entered into with his publishers, but also the history of commercial sales after the music's initial release. Perusal of the Annotated Catalogue reveals striking differences in the number of Chopin first editions published in the German-speaking states as against those released in France or England – a state of affairs which can be understood only with reference to the respective legal frameworks in force at the time.

General characteristics of Chopin's first editions

A music score published during the first half of the nineteenth century had relatively little in common with those on the market today. It typically consisted of a series of folded loose bifolia starting with a title page (TP), followed by a number of leaves containing the music proper and possibly also blank sheets and/or advertisements (situated either between the title page and the music text or at the end); all of this was enclosed within a loose wrapper, i.e. a folded bifolium of coloured paper that served as a cover. The vast majority of Chopin's first editions were produced in a folio format measuring approximately 360 mm. in height by 270 mm. in width. One exception to this norm was the first editions published in Poland, all of which were produced in an oblong (landscape) format.

Very few of the scores reproduced in CFEO have been preserved in their original state. Their size was frequently reduced during conservation work in libraries, when changes were made to their physical contents through the removal of blank sheets at the end and also the systematic disposal of original wrappers in order to economise on space and to give the semblance of continuity when individual copies were bound into library volumes comprising disparate scores.

A given edition would originally comprise one or more gatherings, each containing an odd or even number of leaves; the extent of the music text would of course determine how many were required. For example, gatherings containing 10 leaves are composed of five bifolia, while those with eleven leaves consist of five bifolia plus a further leaf (singleton) situated either in the middle of the section or, exceptionally, elsewhere. Only a few scores have several gatherings; otherwise, all of Chopin's first editions contain no more than one.

A number of works were originally published in volumes, of which two types can be identified: those assembled from scores originally released as independent editions and thus containing individual pagination and one or more blank pages, and those conceived as volumes from the start, which therefore have continuous pagination and no blank pages between works. (Naturally these volumes have nothing to do with the ones assembled by libraries to facilitate classification, storage and conservation.)

Extracts of publishers' catalogues appear as advertisements in the majority of the English editions, irrespective of their publication date; generally these are located on a page between the TP and the music text, or possibly on the reverse of the last page of music text. Such extracts rarely appeared during Chopin's lifetime in the French and German first editions. Catalogue extracts were included with increasing frequency in continental Chopin editions from c. 1850 onwards.

It is important to note that the impressions of a given edition were by no means fixed either in content or in the order of constituent material. Considerable variation occurred from one score to the next, especially in the case of editions originally comprising an odd number of leaves. Numerous examples can be found where blank pages have been added or removed, likewise advertisements. Such changes often necessitated commensurate adjustments to the pagination.

Printing methods

Three different printing methods were employed by music publishers during the first half of the nineteenth century: engraving, lithography and movable type. A good many editions exploited all three techniques. Most of the Polish first editions published before November 1830 were lithographed; only the Polonaise in G minor was engraved throughout, as were three editions published subsequent to Chopin's departure. All other Polish first editions released after 1830 contain lithographed title pages and engraved music text.

Virtually all of the French, English and Italian first editions published during Chopin's lifetime were engraved. The vast majority of the German editions produced during the first half of the nineteenth century – and not just of Chopin's music – have lithographed title pages and engraved music text, although this model does not apply to the Chopin first editions brought out in Austria by Mechetti and Tobias Haslinger, nor to those of Hofmeister, A. M. Schlesinger and Schuberth, all of which were engraved throughout.

Lithographic transfer was frequently employed during the second half of the century and in Chopin's case was first used in 1836. By the end of the 1850s it had become ubiquitous throughout the German states, but not until the late 1860s did the technique gain a similar foothold in England.

Title pages

Bibliographic analysis of a printed edition inevitably starts with the title page, which contains essential information such as the title of the work, name of composer, dedicatee, opus number, sale price, publisher, and often affiliated foreign publishers and concessionary sales agents. In many cases the plate number and the name or initials of the engraver or lithographer involved in the production of the edition also appear.

Five different types of title page are distinguished in the Annotated Catalogue and, as relevant, in CFEO:

The title pages of the vast majority of Chopin's first editions were written in French; this resulted in numerous orthographical infelicities above all in the English publications, and to a lesser extent in the German first editions. In the Annotated Catalogue, these mistakes are detailed in the 'Errors' section of relevant entries.

Before establishing himself in Paris in 1831, Chopin brought out his works with a single publisher, whose name therefore appears by itself on the title page. In the first editions released in Paris, Leipzig and Berlin in 1833, the names of two publishers feature on the title page, with a third – that of the English publisher – systematically appearing from late 1833 onwards.

Wrappers

When originally published, most Chopin editions were contained within a wrapper consisting of a folded bifolium of coloured paper which was fine in quality and supple in texture. As previously noted, few wrappers have survived to the present day. This has partly to do with the delicate nature of the stock in question, and also because wrappers were often removed soon after purchase. Even the deposit scores held by major libraries tend not to have original wrappers. Their loss is much to be regretted: not only do they facilitate the dating process, but they also offer valuable information about the period of commercial availability of a given impression.

Music text

Like all the other components in a score, the music text of each Chopin first edition was subject to modification throughout its commercial life, and indeed many editions evolved quite significantly over time. In addition to the change referred to with regard to the means of reproduction – i.e. the lithographic transfer of engraved originals – the following interventions can be observed within successive impressions of a given edition:

Most reprints of the English editions contain numerous revisions of the first type. In the French and German editions, such changes also occurred regularly but to a lesser extent, and as for the Polish editions, only three reprints were revised in this way.

In just a single case – one of the Kistner editions of the Mazurkas Op. 6 – was a revision made to the music text's graphic content. It proved to be temporary, however, in that the change was rescinded in a later version.

During Chopin's lifetime it was in the French first editions that the music text underwent the most extensive revision. That is hardly surprising, given Chopin's presence in Paris and thus his ability to participate in the ongoing refinement of the French prints. By extension, it can be confidently concluded that he was the instigator of most of the ameliorations to be found in French corrected reprints. During this period, approximately one-quarter of the English first editions and a lesser proportion of German prints were revised. After 1849, the situation was reversed. The French editions remained stable, whereas modifications were made to almost all German and English first editions of Chopin's music. Only three of the editions brought out posthumously in Poland changed over time; those published before 1830 were on the market for a quite limited period, which explains not only the lack of corrections therein but also their extreme rarity today.

Some key observations follow on the evolution of the music text in the Chopin editions. First of all, the vast majority of the French publications exist in a single 'first edition', revised impressions of which were often produced as described above. In none of the second French editions that appeared (either with original plate numbers or new ones) was the music text modified, nor in the reprinted first editions brought out by other publishers who had acquired the original rights. The situation is a good deal more complex in the case of the German prints. Here one notes two contrasting practices: replacement of the original plates, in other words, production of a new edition; and retention of the plates but with ongoing refinements being made to them (i.e. the process of revision discussed above). Both methods were adopted by Breitkopf & Härtel, Hofmeister and Schuberth, and by the Austrian publishers Haslinger and Mechetti, though in proportion to the number of Chopin compositions on their respective lists. In contrast, Kistner and A. M. Schlesinger tended not to revise their existing editions but instead to produce altogether new, re-engraved ones. The relatively high number of new editions that emerged is remarkable, with a record of six discrete editions of one work produced by Kistner.

Few second editions of Chopin's music were produced in England; in fact, during the composer's lifetime, only one such edition appeared, bearing the original plate number. No further new editions were brought out by Wessel or his successors until the late 1870s, when a more comprehensive process of renovation began. Nevertheless, this firm accomplished an extraordinary amount in terms of revising and refining its existing editions, virtually all of which were modified over time.

It is important to emphasise that only a comprehensive analysis of all of the components of a score can lead to its reliable identification. Furthermore, to achieve this goal requires rigorous and comprehensive comparison of all the surviving impressions of a given edition, in view of the fact that Chopin's 'first editions' evolved over time in a process of revision that typically lasted several decades if not more.