New Light on the Disagreement between Charles Rosen and Anatole Lieken concerning the printing errors and resulting interpretation of the expositional repeat in Chopin’s Sonata Op. 35, Mvt. 1

Level of Education of Students Involved

Undergraduate

Faculty Sponsor

Katarina Uhde

Streaming Media

College

College of Arts & Sciences (CAS)

Discipline(s)

Musicology

Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Symposium Date

Spring 4-30-2026

Abstract

In the recorded performance history of Frédéric Chopin’s (1810–1849) Sonata Op. 35 (1839) there are some discrepancies which scholars have been discussing, and which have an audible impact. The discrepancies concern the four opening measures of this sonata (these four bars are titled Grave), which are sometimes played as part of the expositional repeat and other times viewed as separate introductory measures and therefore not played in the expositional repeat, as recordings show. There are fundamentally two versions currently being performed – one supported by musicologist Rosen and one supported by musicologist Anatole Leiken.

This research investigates the first movement and compares the Leiken- and Rosen-versions based on two recordings: 1) By Josef Hofmann (1876–1957) and 2) by Chopin-competition gold-medalist Bruce Liu (1997–).

Both Leiken and Rosen mention that there are no authoritative sources such as an autograph manuscript by Chopin, nor documentation by Chopin’s peers and that therefore it is complicated to figure out what the author (Chopin) intended. Both musicologists use the historical context to justify one reading or the other. In terms of recordings, the two versions sound significantly different in the section in question. In this research, the two scholars’ versions are first introduced in detail. A visualization of the two recordings and audio examples are being shown and interpreted. Additionally, based on the lived experience and live experimentation of the author of this research – a pianist-musicologist – this research hypothesizes that Leiken’s version is the more plausible and convincing interpretation.

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