Sonata in A minor, Op 30
There have been at least four different editions of this work: (1) the original Édition Russe de Musique, copyrighted 1917 and engraved in Russia; (2) a 1922 edition "edited by F H Schneider" published by the reformed ERM operation headquartered in Paris, re-engraved and released under the same plate number as the Russian original; (3) the 1959 Collected Edition; (4) a 2006 edition from St.Petersburg Publishing House. The Dover edition is an exact copy of the 1922 edition except for the addition of the subtitle "During the war 1914–1917", which appears as a footnote in the 1959 edition. This is the only sonata in the Dover edition that was not taken from the 1959 edition. The editors do not give the reason; the 1922 edition is a nicer engraving but is less accurate.
The only changes in the 1922 edition from the original ERM that appear to be genuine, rather than typographical errors, are the addition of the rinforzando markings in bars 22, 24 and 25, and a few fingerings. The 1959 edition is superficially identical to the 1922 with the errors corrected.
The 2006 edition is a copy of the 1959 edition with alterations or additions in two passages. The editor's preface states that two notes made by Medtner were found when studying the first London edition of the Sonata. In the variorum below, the 2006 edition is only mentioned where it differs from the 1959 edition, in bars 10-15 and 83-91.
Op 30
- Bar 9
1922: obvious missing leger line in RH chord
- Bars 10-15
2006: all the staccato dots are absent in both hands. A mark at the end of bar 11 above the LH has the footnote "Play without dots. - author's note"
- Bar 15
1922: LH A and E lack the ties between 4th and 5th eighth-notes
- Bars 22, 24, 25
1917 edition lacks rinforzando markings
- Bar 41
1959: comma after allarg should be a dot
- Bars 83-91
2006: Words of a poem or song above the melody in the RH. A literal translation of the Russian is "Give, Lord, Give happiness to Russia, Give, Lord!.." Phonetically, the sounds above the melody notes are dai, gos po di, dai [no syllable] ros si i, s'ch'a sti ya, dai, gos po di. Martyn, quoting P.Vasilyev in Fortep'yannïye sonatï Metnera, Moscow 1962 (p.38), writes in his biography that this theme apparently sings of 'the little Russian birch-tree'.
- Bar 155
1922: last LH chord should have Db not D
- Bar 162
1922: LH E at start of bar should be eighth-note
- Bar 163
1959 edition omits a short slur in LH between F# and E of following bar
- Bar 167
1922: top B incorrectly dotted
- Bars 167-7
1917: no fingering
1922: fingering 1 on A+B, 2 and 3 on F# and E
1959: fingering 1 on A+B
- Bar 223
last note of RH fingered 3 in 1922, 4 in 1917 and 1959
- Bar 232
All editions have C for the final LH note, and pedalling similar to the preceding and following bar (should it be Db?)
- Bar 233
1922: RH C incorrectly dotted
- Bars 253, 255, 257
1917: omits fingering 4 at the start of each LH phrase
- Bar 254
1922: High A in 2nd beat RH misprinted A#, should be A natural
- Bars 271-4
1917: omits LH fingering
- Bar 292
1922: fingering of 1st note in RH misprinted as 1, should be 2
- Bar 338
1922: ffz in LH misprinted ff
- Bar 341
1922: omits continuation of the hairpin crescendo from the previous bar
- Bar 383
1922: omits pedal mark
- Bars444-8
1917: omits LH fingering
1959: omits LH 2,3 on G#,G in bar 448
- Bar 475
1922: omits comma after final LH chord
- Bar 539
1922: First LH chord should have F# not F
- Bar 543
1922: LH: misplaced accidentals on first chord, which should be D natural, F natural, G#, A. RH: last note of 2nd triplet should be A# not B natural
- Bar 555
1922: RH slur starts from second beat instead of first
- Bar 558
1917: final RH chord omits Gb and has finger 4 above. All other editions include Gb, which parallels bar 514 apart from the RH phrasing. The 1922 edition differs from other editions in giving finger 5, possibly editorial. No edition gives a fingering in bar 514. The omission of Gb in the early edition is perhaps consistent with the fingering.
- Bars 564-5
1922: omits long hairpin diminuendo above RH
- Bar 580
1917, 1959: (Ped.)
1922: Ped.
Medtner's intention is unclear. Some pianists do not pedal through the following bars
- Bar 609
1922: ff misprinted ffz
top