Review

Reviewed Work(s): Annotated Catalogue of Chopin's First Editions by Christophe

Grabowski and John Rink
Review by: Jonathan Kregor
Source: Notes, Vol. 68, No. 2 (December 2011), pp. 398-400
Published by: Music Library Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41412696
Accessed: 28-08-2023 08:03 +00:00

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 398 Notes, December 2011

that she "cannot address these criticisms helpful. Bindig occasionally fails to distin-
guish her footnotes from Hilton's (p. 43
specifically" (p. 200). This is unfortunate
because a historiographer would appreciaten. 4) , or to indicate the sources of her cita-
some balanced assessment. tions (pp. 199-200); she also sometimes po-
This book will appeal primarily to sitions her footnote numbers confusingly
Hilton's former students, colleagues, (p. 175 n. 18).
friends, and anyone involved in historical Strangely, Bindig chooses to list Hilton's
dance. Many admirers who took her classes articles, books, and videorecordings within
will look for themselves and their friends in
her "selected bibliography." A separate bib-
liography of Hilton's work would have al-
the text and in the carefully chosen photo-
lowed one to better judge the output of
graphic illustrations that enrich the text
and help visualize Hilton's life and work. this artist and scholar. Bindig should have
However, an overly lenient editorial compiled a comprehensive videography,
hand necessitates a few quibbles. Repe- which would include the numerous video
titions found here and there make the nar- recordings that preserve Hilton's dance
rative tiresome at times. Within a para- productions and the few that show her
graph, for instance, one reads, "The islanddancing, even if some of these are dis-
cussed within the text. These are particu-
was left to grow wild, except for some slow-
growing trees whose wood was to be har- larly important to further study Hilton's
vested to make cricket bats. No one seemed baroque dance style and her reconstruc-
to go to the island, which except for tions the and choreographies.
trees, grew wild" (p. 7). Other repetitions Hilton admits that she "arrived on the
scene at the right moment" (p. 102) and
are more distant but give the reader a sense
of déjà vu, such as when Hilton discusses that she believes her excellent reviews
the last performance of the Domenico "put early dance on the map" (p. 102). This
Ensemble on page 109 and then again book
ondocuments the fortuitous confluence
page 118. of timing and artistry that allowed Hilton's
Acronyms are not used uniformly. The career to flourish. It sets the stage, and
name of the Dance Notation Bureau, for points up the necessity, for further studies
of her achievement in a broader and more
example, is spelled out on pages 133, 209,
and 221, and written as an acronym on objective historical and scholarly context.
pages 141-42; the Royal Academy of Dance
method is named only by the acronym RAD
method (p. 35). A list of acronyms at the Dominique Bourassa
beginning of the book would have been Yale University

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Annotated Catalogue of Chopin's First Editions. By Ch

Grabowski and John Rink. Cambridge: Cambridge Univers
2010. [lxxxiv, 909 p. ISBN 9780521817176. $225.] Tables, bib
appendices.
Over the last dozen years, Christophe of Chopin 's First Editions , a true labor of love
Grabowski and John Rink have collected, that runs more than nine hundred over-
arranged, annotated, and synthesized over sized pages and offers the most complete
four thousand separate copies of more picture of Frédéric Chopin in the robust
than fifteen hundred unique impressions marketplace of the long nineteenth cen-
of "first editions released during Chopin's tury. More importantly, its fulsome histori-
lifetime, posthumous first editions pub- cal overviews, overall clear presentation,
lished between 1850 and 1878, [and] suc- ambitiously exhaustive scope, and rigorous
cessive reprints of these editions until their yet flexible methodology make it an ideal
eventual disappearance from the market" blueprint for those seeking to better assess
(p. ix). The result is the Annotated Catalogue an element of nineteenth-century life

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Book Reviews 399

that - for better or worse - affected almost what Grabowski and Rink describe as a
every notable musician: the world of music "highly complex" (p. 58) situation - would
publishing. eventually publish three engravings of
Chopin is an ideal lens through which to op. 9, nos. 1 and 3 and five engravings of
view this world, since he was one of the op. 9, no. 2. To be sure, some of these en-
most commercially sensitive composers of gravings introduced errors, which were of-
his generation. As Jeffrey Kallberg first ex-ten later corrected, but some contain read-
plained nearly thirty years ago ("Chopin in ings that may come from Chopin himself.
the Marketplace: Aspects of the Inter-Kistner's title pages obscure this complex
national Music Publishing Industry in the
transmission of opus 9 by routinely reprint-
First Half of the Nineteenth Century,"ing the same title page. Such detailed analy-
Notes 39, no. 3 [March 1983]: 535-69, Notes sis of the source situation means that basic
information about each composition -
39, no. 4 [June 1983]: 795-824), the almost
nonexistent state of copyright in Chopin'ssuch as incipit, date (s) of composition, ref-
day forced composers to devise creative
erences in correspondence, early reviews,
ways of getting the most compensation outetc. - is not given in the Annotated Cata-
of each composition. In Chopin's case, this
logue', rather, reference is made to Józef
meant sending multiple copies of a compo-Michal Chominski and Teresa Dalila Turto,
sition to different European publishers Katalog
- dziel Fryderyka Chopina / A Catalogue
usually in London, Paris, and Vienna - for of the Works of Frederick Chopin (Cracow and
publication or archival deposit on the sameWarsaw: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne
day, in the hope that first publishing rightsand Towarzystwo im. Fryderyka Chopina,
could be asserted simultaneously, thus dis-1990).
couraging piracy. Yet Chopin rarely sent As impressive as the "Annotated Cata-
the same reading of a composition to all of logue" is, even more useful for the general
his publishers, resulting in multiple first readership are two multisectioned intro-
editions that were all authorized but rarely ductory chapters. The first, "Chopin's First
identical. Grabowski and Rink argue that Editions: Historical Overview" (pp. xxi-lxi)
"[w]ithout thorough analysis of these provides a detailed synopsis of the distin-
sources as well as the nineteenth-centuryguishing characteristics of Chopin's first
practices that gave rise to them, Chopin's editions, including regional variations, as
output cannot be understood in its histori- well as an excellent discussion of Chopin's
cal context nor its content accurately repro-dealings with publishers and their succes-
duced in any modern edition. The very
sors. For each geographical location
identity of the Chopin work is at stake"(France, Austria/ Germany, England,
(p. xxi) . Poland, Italy) , Grabowski and Rink provide
Each entry in the "Annotated Catalogue" tabulated data of the first publications of
(pp. 1-583) illustrates the snowball effect Chopin's works using press advertisements,
that then took place: Chopin's first editions archival deposits, and works catalogues.
begot new imprints, a small selection of Among other important conclusions, their
which suffered various degrees of alter- research cautions against an overreliance
ation. The three Nocturnes op. 9 are a case on periodical notices but validates the accu-
in point. Grabowski and Rink identify racy of Adolf and Friedrich Hofmeister's
thirty-eight different impressions of either Musikalisch-literarische Monatsberichte (Leip-
zig: F. Hofmeister, 1817-1943). The second
the set or a part thereof. The first French
edition was published by Maurice introductory chapter, "Introduction to the
Schlesinger in 1833, who published it two
Annotated Catalogué ' (pp. lxiii-lxxxiv) lays
out the bibliographic principles used
more times with changes only to the pagi-
nation. Schlesinger's successor, Brandus,
throughout the bulk of the book. Each
republished the piece four more times,element of a typical entry is defined and/or
although his second printing - the fifth
described ("title-page transcription," "mod-
printing overall of the work in Franceifications,"
- "copies," etc.), and while the
introduced three different readings in the
"edition/impression code" used to identify
music of the first and second nocturnes.unique impressions - such as "6-1-Sm" for
Also in 1833, Friedrich Kistner, based opus 6, first edition, published by Maurice
in Leipzig, began issuing opus 9, and - Schlesinger
in - is initially awkward to parse,

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400 Notes, December 2011

through accumulated use it reveals an in- sive for the average student (and, sadly,
herent flexibility that accommodates al- perhaps even for smaller academic li-
most any publishing situation. Although ti- braries), it could well serve as a textbook
tle pages tend to yield the richest amount along with, say, Stanley Boorman's Ottavi-
of information regarding provenance, the ano Petrucci: A Catalogue Raisonné (New
authors also note "Distinguishing Musical York: Oxford University Press, 2006) for a
Features (DMF) which could be of partic- course on current methods in historical
ular use to editors of a critical edition and
musicology. The glossary of terms on pages
performers in general. lxxix-lxxiv, for instance, offers exception-
ally lucid definitions of elements related to
Despite its breadth, the Annotated Cata-
manuscript and print production, such
logue becomes maximally useful only when
as "bifolium," "lithograph," "shelfmark,"
read in tandem with two other catalogues:
the fourth volume of Karin Breitner and " Stichvorlage ," and "wrapper." And the fac-
Thomas Leibnitz, Katalog der Sammlung
similes of title pages on pages 587-808 offer
ample
Anthony Hoboken in der Musiksammlung der material for the novice wishing to
improve his or her skills as text transcriber
Osterreichischen Nationalbibliothek (Tutzing:
Hans Schneider, 1986); and Georgeand W. critical editor. While Chopin has been
Platzman, A Catalogue of Early Printed handsomely served here by Grabowski and
Editions of the Works of Frédéric ChopinRink,
in the their methodological principals
University of Chicago Library (Chicago: might also inspire scholars of, say, Liszt or
University of Chicago Press, 2003). Mendelssohn to initiate similar projects,
Additionally, the website "Chopin's First the results of which would undoubtedly
Editions Online" (http://www.cfeo.org.uk;open up new ways of understanding how
accessed 1 June 2011), initiated and main-music of the period was advertised, con-
tained by Rink, helpfully amplifies some ofsumed, and even composed.
the information found in the Annotated
Jonathan Kregor
Catalogue. For example, while the Annotated University of Cincinnati
Catalogue provides detailed information for
the twenty-eight distinct impressions of the
Mazurkas op. 7, it lacks a summary Maria
of Szymanowska (1789-1831): A
Bio-Bibliography. By Anna Kijas.
the relationships among these sources;
Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press 2010.
"Chopin's First Editions Online" provides
that. Finally, neither the Annotated [xvii,
Cata- 201 p. ISBN 9780810876842.
$55.] Illustrations, music examples, ta-
logue nor "Chopin's First Editions Online"
allows for a complete picture of Chopin's
bles, index, annotated bibliography,
reception, as its authors include neither
discography.
four-hand arrangements of Chopin's com-
Polish pianist-composer Maria Szyman-
positions (which, as they note on p. ix, were
ubiquitous) nor unauthorized reprints owskaof(1789-1831) is one of the most fasci-
nating
original editions. While these omissions are figures of the early-nineteenth-
understandable, compositions bearing century musical scene. She was one of the
Chopin's name though not executed or international performing artists of
earliest
the time, influential as a performer and
even authorized by him would give a more
complete picture of Chopin's presence composer,
in and, perhaps most incredibly,
she advanced her career despite being a di-
the middle-class salon, where simplified
solo keyboard and expanded four-hand vorced woman with three young children.
arrangements - the bread and butter of
Respected by the foremost musicians of her
many an industrious nineteenth-century day (including Johann Nepomuk Hummel,
publisher - tended to dominate. Gioacchino Rossini, and Luigi Cherubini),
admired by aristocracy, she was also a
While Chopin scholars will obviously
muse
benefit most immediately from this im-of the great romantic poets Johan
mense resource, students of nineteenth- Wolfgang Goethe and Adam Mickiewicz.
century music, critical editing methodolo- Szymanowska scholarship in Polish and
gies, and historical (music) publishing Russian is rather extensive, with major bi-
practices will find much in the Annotated ographies on the composer already a half
Catalogue as well. While prohibitively expen- century old (in Russian by Igor Belza,

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