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The purpose of this study is to analyze the first movements of Sergei Bortkiewicz's two piano sonatas and compare them with works by other composers that may have served as compositional models. More specifically, the intention is to examine the role of the subdominant key in the recapitulation and trace possible inspirations and influences from the Classical and Romantic styles, including Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. The dissertation employs Schenkerian analysis to elucidate the structure of Bortkiewicz's movements. In addition, the first movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata K. 545, Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, and the first movement of Schubert's "Trout" Quintet in A, D. 667, are examined in order to illuminate the similarities and differences between the use of the subdominant recapitulation by these composers and Bortkiewicz.

One of the difficulties of nineteenth-century form studies is ambiguity in ascertaining which formal types are at work and in what ways. This can be an especially difficult problem when multiple formal types seem to influence the construction of a single composition. Drawing on some recent innovations in form studies proposed by Steven Vande Moortele, Janet Schmalfeldt, and Caitlin Martinkus, I first develop a set of analytical tools specifically made for the analysis of sonata/variation formal hybrids. I then refine these tools by applying them to the analysis of two pieces. Chopin's Fourth Piano Ballade can be understood from this perspective as primarily following the broad outlines of a sonata form, but with important influences from the recursive structures of variation forms; Franck's Symphonic Variations, on the other hand, are better viewed as engaging most of all with multiple variation-form paradigms and overlaying them with some of the rhetorical and formal structures of sonata forms. I conclude with a brief speculation on some further, more general applications of my methodology.

Master of Music / School of Music, Theatre, and Dance / Slawomir Dobrzanski / This Master’s Report is a study of four piano compositions performed on April 10, 2016 at the author’s Master’s Piano Recital. These discussed pieces are including Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata in G major, BWV 916; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 31, No. 3; Claude Debussy’s Images Book One; Fryderyk Chopin’s Scherzo No. 2, Op. 31. This study focus on historical, theoretical and stylistic implications of each composition.

The essay begins with the overview of Russian-Soviet piano music from the second half of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century. Then, biographical information about Sergei Slonimsky and an overview of his major compositions is provided. The majority of the paper focuses on Slonimsky's Sonata for Piano (1963). A brief discussion of the Sonata's compositional history is followed by the formal analysis of the overall structure of the work. Slonimsky's original principle of organization of the music is emphasized: the system of constant interrelation of the main thematic material combined with elements of the sonata-allegro form. In the analysis of the harmonic language of the piece, the composer's extensive use of Russian folk elements such as diatonic melodies, sigh motives, parallel triads, and simultaneous use of the lower third with the major triad is pointed out. The rest of the paper focuses on issues of interpretation and performance. Special notice is given to the problem of incorporating a percussive type of playing with the elements of folk cantilena singing. The paper concludes with the history of Sonata's performances and a discussion of current recordings.

Mexican composer Javier G. Compeán finished Sonata III, his most recent composition for solo guitar, in December 2015. Since the composition of his first such work in 2003, the composer has been experimenting with texture, register, dynamic range, extended techniques, harmonic possibilities, timbre, and form in his solo guitar music. In Sonata III, Compeán applied the experience he gained in previous compositions for guitar. This work represents the composer’s current style, in which he returns to a more traditional language but continues to experiment with the technical capabilities of the instrument. Sonata III is Compeán’s most ambitious guitar composition and one of the most important twenty-first century contributions to the Mexican guitar literature. This research focuses on the production of a performing edition of Sonata III. This research also includes a comprehensive analysis of Compeán’s solo guitar music to provide context for guitarists so that they can better understand the composer’s style.

(Jose Antonio) Carlos de Seixas (1704-1742) is an important figure in the European keyboard music of the beginning of the 18th-century. He composed around 700 sonatas for keyboard, of which only around 105 are known today. They demonstrate a high execution level that can be compared with J. P. Rameau (1683-1764), J. S. Bach (1685-1750), Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), Padre Antonio Soler (1729-1783) and other important composers of his time. Like Scarlatti and Soler, Carlos Seixas is positioned in an important transitional period in the history of music. He and his contemporaries are situated between true giants of Western Art Music: before and, in part, during Seixas's life time lived G. F. Haendel (1685-1759) and J. S. Bach (1685-1750); and after Seixas came F. J. Haydn (1732-1809), W. A. Mozart (1756-1791), and L. van Beethoven (1770-1827). During this transitional time in the first half of the eighteenth century, from the baroque to the classical eras, several stylistic trends coexisted--- the baroque, the new galant style, the empfindsamer Stil, and the pre-classical. This essay is divided into four chapters. In Chapter One I discuss the sources for Seixas scholarship followed by a historical overview of seventeenth- and eighteenth- century Portugal as well as a brief biographical sketch of Seixas's life. Chapter Two includes a discussion of Seixas's musical style and form. I examine various facets of his compositional style, including some commonalities found in many composers' works during the transitional period between the Baroque and pre-Classical. I also explore other facets of his keyboard writing such as the use of violin idioms, folkloric sounds, and symphonic textures. In Chapter Three I examine in greater detail Seixas's keyboard writing. I start with descriptions of the instruments that Seixas may have used and of his keyboard writing. I also examine available scholarship for guidelines on performing early eighteenth-century keyboard music in general--including specific approaches to ornaments, articulation, improvisation, rubato, and the like--before turning to Seixas's keyboard sonatas in particular. The last chapter, Chapter Four, includes elements for the analysis of Seixas's sonatas; I choose four of these sonatas for more in-depth analysis of formal and tonal structure. The four selected sonatas represent different formal schemes and stylistic characteristics, which demonstrate the variety within Seixas's solo keyboard pieces. They show great contrasts in form, relationship of movements, and thematic treatment: Sonata No. 16 in C minor presents only one movement in free binary form; Sonata No. 27 in D minor has three movements with no evident relationship among them and toccata elements in the first movement; Sonata No. 42 in F minor also has three movements but the last two movements relate thematically and the first movement presents imitative counterpoint; and Sonata No. 59 in A major represents pre-classical tendencies in texture and structure, presenting three movements connected as a whole through cyclical thematic ideas in the outer movements and a second movement, in A minor, that links to the last movement by means of an open ending. In addition, Chapter Four includes pedagogical insights from an analytical standpoint and annotations for the use of Seixas's sonatas as teaching resources. As part of this chapter's pedagogical resources, I also list additional sources for understanding performance practice of eighteenth-century music, review the available editions of Seixas's solo keyboard compositions, and list the primary performers of his keyboard works. Finally, the appendices to this essay include two cataloguing tables: the first (Appendix A) catalogues a selected group of Seixas's sonatas with detailed descriptions of their technical difficulties, and the second (Appendix B) catalogues all eighty sonatas according to level of difficulty. In addition, the scores of all four sonatas analyzed in Chapter Four are provided in two forms: Appendices C, D, E, and F contain the original Seixas score as edited by Seixas's preeminent scholar Santiago Macario Kastner; Appendices G, H, I, and J contain my performer's scores for the same four sonatas, that is, annotated versions of Kastner's editions.

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