Rather, the handwritten clean copies that Chopin forwarded to the individual publishers differed. The reason we, as editors of his music, still have a difficult time with Chopin is that he tended to publish his works simultaneously with different publishers - in France, England Germany – and seldom left us with one definite and authoritative version of a piece to rely on and refer to. But in matters of print he was very keen on details this is evident especially from his meticulous autographs, the copies corrected by himself, and his correspondence with his publishers. It is known, and reliably so, that he himself never twice performed his own pieces identically, and, by improvising, consistently added new vivacity to his compositions. However, what must certainly have been of much greater importance to Chopin is the true and exact reproduction of his music.

Just imagine – even the cover alone would have caused Chopin to appreciate our Henle Urtext editions. Not long ago I happened to read that Chopin’s favourite colour was „slate blue“.

Clara schumann march in e flat major