Annotated Catalogue of Chopin's First Editions.

By Christophe Grabowski and John Rink. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. [1xxxiv, 909 P. ISBN 9780521817176. $225.] Tables, bibliography, appendices.

Over the last dozen years, Christophe Grabowski and John Rink have collected, arranged, annotated, and synthesized over four thousand separate copies of more than fifteen hundred unique impressions of "first editions released during Chopin's lifetime, posthumous first editions published between 1850 and 1878, [and] successive reprints of these editions until their eventual disappearance from the market" (p. ix). The result is the Annotated Catalogue of Chopin's First Editions, a true labor of love that runs more than nine hundred oversized pages and offers the most complete picture of Frederic Chopin in the robust marketplace of the long nineteenth cen-tury. More importantly, its fulsome historical overviews, overall clear presentation, ambitiously exhaustive scope, and rigorous yet flexible methodology make it an ideal blueprint for those seeking to better assess an element of nineteenth-century life that--for better or worse--affected almost every notable musician: the world of music publishing.

Chopin is an ideal lens through which to view this world, since he was one of the most commercially sensitive composers of his generation. As Jeffrey Kallberg first explained nearly thirty years ago ("Chopin in the Marketplace: Aspects of the International Music Publishing Industry in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century," Notes 39, no. 3 [March 1983]: 535-69, Notes 39, no. 4 [ June 1983]: 795-824), the almost nonexistent state of copyright in Chopin's day forced composers to devise creative ways of getting the most compensation out of each composition. In Chopin's case, this meant sending multiple copies of a composition to different European publishers--usually in London, Paris, and Vienna--for publication or archival deposit on the same day, in the hope that first publishing rights could be asserted simultaneously, thus discouraging piracy. Yet Chopin rarely sent the same reading of a composition to all of his publishers, resulting in multiple first editions that were all authorized but rarely identical. Grabowski and Rink argue that "[w]ithout thorough analysis of these sources as well as the nineteenth-century practices that gave rise to them, Chopin's output cannot be understood in its historical context nor its content accurately reproduced in any modern edition. The very identity of the Chopin work is at stake" (p. xxi).

Each entry in the "Annotated Catalogue" (pp. 1-583) illustrates the snowball effect that then took place: Chopin's first editions begot new imprints, a small selection of which suffered various degrees of alteration. The three Nocturnes op. 9 are a case in point. Grabowski and Rink identify thirty-eight different impressions of either the set or a part thereof. The first French edition was published by Maurice Schlesinger in 1833, who published it two more times with changes only to the pagination. Schlesinger's successor, Brandus, republished the piece four more times, although his second printing--the fifth printing overall of the work in France--introduced three different readings in the music of the first and second nocturnes. Also in 1833, Friedrich Kistner, based in Leipzig, began issuing opus 9, and--in what Grabowski and Rink describe as a "highly complex" (p. 58) situation--would eventually publish three engravings of op. 9, nos. 1 and 3 and five engravings of op. 9, no. 2. To be sure, some of these engravings introduced errors, which were often later corrected, but some contain readings that may come from Chopin himself. Kistner's title pages obscure this complex transmission of opus 9 by routinely reprinting the same title page. Such detailed analysis of the source situation means that basic information about each composition--such as incipit, date(s) of composition, references in correspondence, early reviews, etc.--is not given in the Annotated Catalogue; rather, reference is made to Jeizef Michal Chominski and Teresa Dalila Turk), Katalog dziel hyderyka Clzopina / A Catalogue of the Works of Frederick Chopin (Cracow and Warsaw: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne and Towarzystwo im. Fryderyka Chopina, 1990).

As impressive as the "Annotated Catalogue" is, even more useful for the general readership are two multisectioned introductory chapters. The first, "Chopin's First Editions: Historical Overview" (pp. xxi-lxi) provides a detailed synopsis of the distinguishing characteristics of Chopin's first editions, including regional variations, as well as an excellent discussion of Chopin's dealings with publishers and their successors. For each geographical location (France, Austria/Germany, England, Poland, Italy), Grabowski and Rink provide tabulated data of the first publications of Chopin's works using press advertisements, archival deposits, and works catalogues. Among other important conclusions, their research cautions against an overreliance on periodical notices but validates the accuracy of Adolf and Friedrich Hofmeister's Musikalisch-literarische Monatsberichte (Leipzig: F. Hofmeister, 1817-1943). The second introductory chapter, "Introduction to the Annotated Catalogue" (pp. lxiii-lxxxiv) lays out the bibliographic principles used throughout the bulk of the book. Each element of a typical entry is defined and/or described ("title-page transcription," "modifications," "copies," etc.), and while the "edition/impression code" used to identify unique impressions--such as "6-1-Sm" for opus 6, first edition, published by Maurice Schlesinger--is initially awkward to parse, through accumulated use it reveals an inherent flexibility that accommodates almost any publishing situation. Although title pages tend to yield the richest amount of information regarding provenance, the authors also note "Distinguishing Musical Features (DMF)," which could be of particular use to editors of a critical edition and performers in general.

Despite its breadth, the Annotated Catalogue becomes maximally useful only when read in tandem with two other catalogues: the fourth volume of Karin Breitner and Thomas Leibnitz, Katalog der Sammlung Anthony Hoboken in der Musiksammlung der Osterreichischen Nationalbibliothek (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1986); and George W. Platzman, A Catalogue of Early Printed Editions of the Works of Frederic Chopin in the University of Chicago Library (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003). Additionally, the website "Chopin's First Editions Online" (http://www.cfeo.org.uk; accessed 1 June 2011), initiated and maintained by Rink, helpfully amplifies some of the information found in the Annotated Catalogue. For example, while the Annotated Catalogue provides detailed information for the twenty-eight distinct impressions of the Mazurkas op. 7, it lacks a summary of the relationships among these sources; "Chopin's First Editions Online" provides that. Finally, neither the Annotated Catalogue nor "Chopin's First Editions Online" allows for a complete picture of Chopin's reception, as its authors include neither four-hand arrangements of Chopin's compositions (which, as they note on p. ix, were ubiquitous) nor unauthorized reprints of original editions. While these omissions are understandable, compositions bearing Chopin's name though not executed or even authorized by him would give a more complete picture of Chopin's presence in the middle-class salon, where simplified solo keyboard and expanded four-hand arrangements--the bread and butter of many an industrious nineteenth-century publisher--tended to dominate.

While Chopin scholars will obviously benefit, most immediately from this immense resource, students of nineteenth-century music, critical editing methodologies, and historical (music) publishing practices will find much in the Annotated Catalogue as well. While prohibitively expensive for the average student (and, sadly, perhaps even for smaller academic libraries), it could well serve as a textbook along with, say, Stanley Boorman's Ottaviano Petrucci: A Catalogue Rai.sonne (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006) for a course on current methods in historical musicology. The glossary of terms on pages lxxix-lxxiv, for instance, offers exceptionally lucid definitions of elements related to manuscript and print production, such as "bifolium," "lithograph," "shelfmark," "Stichvorlage," and "wrapper." And the facsimiles of title pages on pages 587-808 offer ample material for the novice wishing to improve his or her skills as text transcriber and critical editor. While Chopin has been handsomely served here by Grabowski and Rink, their methodological principals might also inspire scholars of, say, Liszt or Mendelssohn to initiate similar projects, the results of which would undoubtedly open up new ways of understanding how music of the period was advertised, consumed, and even composed.

JONATHAN KREGOR

University of Cincinnati