Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Do any members have some 1st editions Chopin ?

I just collecting printed music about three years ago. So farI have been lucky to find from B&H Chopin opus 10 and 25 1st and early editions. Its a thrill to see the printed page from Chopin's contemporary life. Let alone two printed classic's without any markings. Please share your experiences with me. I really love this hobby and its not that expensive.

I have a circa 1840 edition of Part II of the Op 10 etudes, the Leipzig edition. It contains etudes numbers 7 through 12 and is identical to the first edition (same plates) except for a small "Nouvelle edition" on the cover. I found it on ebay a couple of years ago. It appears never to have been played from.

Check this out. It might not have exactly what you want, but probably still worth a look:

http://chopin.lib.uchicago.edu/

Yes, the University of Chicago has the best editions of the Chopins 1st edition works. Its a very nice hobby

I have some first edition Brahms and Mendelssohn, but no Chopin. The Brahms is the first book of the Paganini Variations. The Mendelssohn is his edition of Handel's Israel in Egypt, full score with his piano reduction. It is huge.

You have a first edition of the Paganini Variations? Where are you people finding these things and what do you do for a living, since, clearly, you've got a lot more extra money than I, if you're buying first editions.

You just find them. The Brahms was probably less than $5, and the Mendelssohn was in a collection of 4 volumes (9 works) of that Handel edition, which was under $100. I was mistaken, incidentally: it is the second book of the Brahms. I got it with a Simrock edition of the Ballades, which was not the original edition, but it was only $3.

First editions are reasonably common. I have Tsar Sultan, which of course means Flight of the Bumblebee, and The Mikado. Of course, a lot of music written in the past century is still available as first editions, although not necessarily first printings. I think I have a Prokofiev Sonata, for instance. I kind of like the look of early Russian editions.

I have been going through some band music, and found a pep song for Santa Clara University, which they had lost and reconstructed. I emailed them a pdf of the original.

Manuscripts are what are rare.

Ah, I thought you meant first edition as in FIRST edition, which WOULD be a rarity and somewhat expensive. Can I ask what the publication date for the Paganini is?

I just purchased the Brahms Variation and Fugue on a Theme by Handel in a first edition early issue for$200. Without markings too. So it does cost money but it is not for the most part (Beethoven piano sonatas are $5000) too terrible but a great teaching. Printed music was described in the Wall Street Journal as an upcoming hobby.

Wow. The Handel Variations are one of my very favorite Brahms works. From 1862 roughly, then, yes? If so, $200 is a steal, in my opinion.

Brahms did a lot of the fingering in the 1st edition. So I transferred the fingering to a recent Henle edition which is my practice edition.

Great! Once again, I'll ask if the first edition you have is from 1862/63? Which edition is it, by the way?

I have to take apart a few things and let you know tomorrow.

I do not have the date of the Paganini Variations. You can look it up in the catalog, which is how I learned it was the first edition, and the Simrock Ballades was not. It is difficult to determine which printing it might have been. That is not noted on music, usually.

The Handel/Mendelssohn was a special edition, meant to be a complete edition of Handel's works. It was not completed, so I doubt it was ever reprinted as such. The piano reduction was taken from it, and is still available. It is dated, sometime in the 1840s.

If you buy something as a first edition, it will be significantly more expensive than buying something and finding out it is a first edition.

If you were to tell me what edition the Paganini Variation are I could give you a date.