Hardly unexpectedly for a genre created by Franz Schubert, Chopin’s four Impromptus have a strongly improvisatory character, while still overflowing with fleet-footed lightness, as well as with dignity and tastefulness. This applies above all to the first three pieces of this volume, opp. 29, 36 and 51. Whereas the first was written in 1837, the other two were composed during Chopin’s relationship with the authoress George Sand, at her country seat of Nohant: op. 36 in 1839, op. 51 three years later. The opus number of the Fantaisie Impromptu, op. 66, is misleading, since the piece had already been written in 1834 as the first of the four works. Chopin had apparently not envisioned its printing, and it was issued only after his death, thanks to the efforts of his friend Julian Fontana. The print diverges so strongly from the – fortunately – extant autograph, however, that both versions are reproduced in the Henle Urtext edition.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
