Chopin’s Impromptu’s and Fantaisies
R6076 // Chopin // Impromptus // and // Fantaisies // Piano | Augener Edition | Stainer & Bell | Published by Stainer & Bell Ltd, 82 High Road, London N2 9PW, Printed in England by Galliard Limited
This copy presents the following theory in its introduction for the title: “Fantaisie-Impromptu”:1
None of the known manuscript copies… bears this hyphenated title. One of them belonging to Chopin’s sister2 bore the title “Fantaisie”;
Chopin // Impromptus // and // Fantaisies // Piano | Augener Edition
The text goes on to say that Fontana may have decided to combine “fantaisie and “impromptu”. There are two manuscripts by Auguste Franchomme, one bears the title: “Fantaisie”, while the other bears: “Impromptu”.
In my scholarly opinion, this seems like the most likely scenario. The fusing of the two names then gave us “Fantaisie-Impromptu”.
- Text has been condensed and edited for relevance and clarity. ↩︎
- Likely as presented in Niewydane dotychczas // Pamiątki po Chopinie [I do find it academically reckless to not have included this vital information in its sources section. ↩︎