Tenuto ties and slurs in Chopin’s Etudes

Chopin’s autograph slurs can be read musically in several ways, particularly in relation to their varying lengths. Among these, his Etudes op. 10 and op. 25 present three written instances of an open slur-like or tie-like curve starting from a gesturally strong upbeat but ending well before and far from the ensuing note, in each case a downbeat indicated p. Two of the instances launch an Etude. Editions have habitually ignored these or treated them as slurs to the ensuing note. This article considers them in musical and notational context, and argues that they can be read as open tenuto ties, the upbeat to be sustained and considered as polyphonically distinct from the ensuing downbeat. A corollary appears in the A minor Etude op. 25 no. 4, where Chopin’s autograph slurs extend beyond long notes ending several legato phrases, the slur usually ending in mid-air at or just before the completion of the long note’s notated duration. Rationale is argued again in terms of finger tenuto, the slurs covering the duration of the long note to be held over staccato accompaniment. In a few bars of this Etude Chopin even drew a similar slur over the sounding extent of just a single sustained note, sometimes duplicating a tie over the barline; these are argued as related both to the extended slurs and to the “tenuto ties” from upbeats.