Benjamin Britten was a British composer who was notable in the twentieth century. His masterpieces in composing, conducting or in piano performance profoundly affected the later ages. This dissertation discussed his unique features in his creation and the use of skills in the cello sonata. Britten¡¦s motivation of creation was inspired by the perfect skills in performing cello music of Mstislav Rostropovich. First at all, this dissertation discussed Benjamin Britten¡¦s creative opinion of cello sonata and briefly mentioned the music environment at that time in the view of the British contemporary music. In addition, it introduced Britten¡¦s background in order to know the influences of his following musical creations. Lastly, the backbone of this dissertation was to analyze the inter-correlation of the musical forms, tonal analysis, motives, intervals and themes of the masterpiece, in order to induct the original idea of this composition. Britten¡¦s cello sonata not only combined the musical elements from traditional and contemporary period, but also used proper skill to perform the content of cello sonata in the adept skills. I hope the dissertation helped players perform this sonata wonderfully and correspond Brittan¡¦s music languages. Beside music lovers will able to get closer to his deeply thought from this dissertation.

Beethoven composed five sonatas and three variations for cello and piano in his lifetime. His five cello sonatas (including two in his early, one in the middle and two in the late period), a series of very interesting compositions, showed different styles of different time. These two ¡§Cello Sonatas, Opus 102¡¨ are Beethoven¡¦s last composition for cello. They are marked the beginning of Beethoven¡¦s late composition style, as well as the most important compositions in the year of 1815. Hence we can say that those two pieces have attained considerable importance: not only in the change of style, but also in the innovation of his composing skills. Other than that, in these two ¡§Cello Sonata, Opus 102¡¨, the way of his composing for cello idioms heavily has influenced the six string quartets he composed later. This paper is mainly based on those two ¡§Cello Sonatas, Opus 102¡¨ in Beethoven late career. It discusses the composing background of those two pieces, the techniques in which they were written, and the characters of its music. In addition, the paper would initially mention the improvement of string instruments and the progresses of performing techniques in the 18th Century, and how the cellists around Beethoven influenced his compositions. Further, we can even find, by his late two cello sonatas and chamber music, how Beethoven has improved the conventional role of cello.

This essay examines the three main large-scale chamber music works for strings and piano written by the Mexican composer Manuel M. Ponce: the Romantic Trio for violin, cello and piano (1912), the Sonata for violoncello and piano (1922), and the Sonata Breve for violin and piano (1930). The purpose of the study is to aid chamber music performers in the understanding, preparation and execution of these works. Written contextually for performing musicians, the format for the study of the individual works includes sections on historical background and commentary on analysis and performance considerations. In addition, each work exemplifies a different musical stage in Ponce's compositional development. The author traces the composer's compositional and stylistic evolution throughout the study of these works. The essay also includes a comprehensive biography of Ponce and a general overview of the composer's chamber music works.

Polystylism in Alfred Schnittke's music has been considered by scholars as a central aspect of his music. Although there are many published analyses of his choral music, symphonies, concerti and violin sonatas, there is no known published research for Schnittke's first cello sonata. Alfred Schnittke grew up in a culturally diverse environment influenced by many different composers and compositional styles under the restrictions of a communist Russian government. These aspects influenced the development of Schnittke's polystylism, characteristically represented by his Cello Sonata (1978). The detailed musical analysis of this sonata in this study serves the purpose to reveal Schnittke's polystylistic tendencies and his use of cyclic elements. These polystylistic elements in the sonata illustrate how Schnittke de-familiarizes listeners from rules commonly accepted as unavoidable and re-familiarizes listeners with the expressive qualities of tonal, twelve-tone and atonal music. Although Schnittke introduces polystylistic materials in de-familiarized contexts in this sonata, this study finds that Schnittke particularly re-familiarizes the audience's musical and stylistic perception through the reappearance of sections, textures and motifs. Abrupt polystylistic conflicts contrast with the repetition of previous materials, thereby forming a combination of traditional styles with features of discontinuity in 20th century music.

In the late 19th century, Georg Schumann (1866-1952) composed an attractive sonata for the cello that remains largely unknown today. By presenting a performer's analysis, this dissertation aims to position Georg Schumann's Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor, Op. 19 (1898) amongst other more commonly performed sonatas of the era. This paper provides a detailed analysis of each movement of the sonata, an overview of the history and development of the cello sonata and an overview of Georg Schumann's biography leading up to the composition of his cello sonata.

Benjamin Britten is a renowned and prolific English composer, well known for his operas and vocal works. He did, however, also compose five works especially for the cello as a solo instrument of which the Sonata in C for Cello and Piano Op. 65 was the first. He was inspired by one of his musical contemporaries, the remarkable Soviet cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich. Rostropovich was famous for his amazing artistry which propelled him to become one of the most prominent cellists in the world during his time. Thus Britten, who had previously only composed for cello as part of ensembles, created this sonata specifically thinking of Rostropovich and his outstanding skill as a cellist. The premiere of the sonata took place in July 1961 at the Aldeburgh Festival and it was a great success. However, despite Britten's reputation as an outstanding composer and the significance of the sonata, this sonata has been performed infrequently. Britten utilized many challenging techniques and adapted them innovatively in the composition, and perhaps performers may be reluctant to choose this work due to the complexity and challenge inherent in the composition itself. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a practical guide for students and those who wish to learn and perform Britten's Sonata in C for Cello and Piano, Op. 65 by increasing understanding of the work, and by offering practical assistance.

This paper examines the generic aspect of Beethoven's Opus 5 Cello Sonatas (1796) from structuralist and post-structuralist perspectives, and explores the works from these viewpoints in order to gain insights into how the sonatas function as autonomous musical texts rather than historiographic documents of Beethoven's biography or transitional contributions in the development of the genre of the solo sonata as it was later cultivated. The insights offered by these perspectives argue for a reconsideration of the conventional notions of "work" and "text," which underscore the doctrine of work-immanence. This perspective also offers insights that have proven elusive when the works are considered primarily in the context of the historical-biographical construct of Beethoven's three style-periods. By applying the aesthetic practice of expressive doubling prevalent at the turn of the nineteenth century to Beethoven's Opus 5 Sonatas, a deeper understanding of the constellation of the duo sonatas in accompanied keyboard literature will be attained. Also, by illuminating the relational nature of meaning realized within a textual framework, this study attempts to enlarge the restricted scope of interpretation conventionally imposed on the Opus 5 sonatas.