Author Description

Source Commentary by Professor Irena Poniatowska and Dr Zofia Chechlińska The first volume in the series Works by Chopin. Facsimile Edition is an autograph Stichvorlage of the Sonata in B minor, Op. 58, held at the National Library in Warsaw under the shelf-mark Mus. 232 Cim. It is the first facsimile edition of this autograph to be based on original photographs of the manuscript. The volume contains of two books: a faithful copy of the autograph together with a source commentary by Professor Irena Poniatowska and Dr Zofia Chechlińska, published in six languages: Polish, English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese. The manuscript of the Sonata in B minor is the autograph Stichvorlage which formed the basis for the German first edition of this work, published by the firm of Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig in July 1845. The musical text is written out meticulously and legibly, and contains relatively few corrections, deletions or alterations. The Sonata in B minor is the third of Chopin's sonatas, but the last of his piano sonatas; it was written in the 1840s, during the period of the composer's most mature style.