This research illustrates the performer-researcher's artistic process of reaching an understanding of music through performance, and explores how an effort to understand music at the instrument and in the context of music-making could influence our critical evaluation of the music. ​Engaged in the process of learning music, I seek to document my artistic practices as a reflective practitioner: to open up the performer-researcher's workspace, communicate the performativity of the music, and reveal my embodied doing-thinking as a performer. By involving in the performer-researcher's physical and intellectual trajectory, the focus of musicological research could be shifted from the study of music as writing to a practice-based study that communicates and values music as performance. ​This shift provides a chance to rethink musical works at the piano and place the music in a context in which music can be understood, communicated, and valued through performance. This has the potential to shed light on the performative value of music, and may challenge the existing critique of musical works by emphasising the centrality of musical performance in the realm of music research, perhaps revealing what has been neglected by the text and outcome-focused approaches to music. I believe this could lead us to assess musical works in a different value system by considering the music in and as performance.

I detta examensarbete analyseras den ryska kompositören Nikolai Medtners Sonata Reminiscenza Op. 38 no. 1 från ett harmoniskt, motiviskt och strukturellt perspektiv. Denna analys innefattar också reflektioner kring några av författarens interpretationsmässiga val. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur styckets form och harmonik kopplar det samman såväl med den klassiska kompositionskonstens regler som med Medtners artistiska/poetiska mål. Studiens resultat påvisar att verket är såväl kompositionstekniskt fulländat som känslomässigt rikligt. Sonatformen är på ett sofistikerat vis implementerad i verkets struktur och återfinns som en integrerad del i musikens narrativ.

The compositional language of Russian composer-pianist Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) demonstrates an evolution of the traditional forms and harmony. Following the classical and romantic traditions, Medtner's compositional technique reveals his individual and original approaches to form and harmony. The unique architectonic in his works is achieved through particular tonal-harmonic juxtapositions of the sections, the frequent prevalence of the monothematic principle, the increased role of the developmental material in the exposition, and contrapuntal combination of themes. Harmonic vocabulary is characterized by chromatic harmony, altered dissonant chords, augmented triads, complex chains of modulations, and usage and combination of modes and octatonic scale. Counterpoint is of great importance toward understanding the chord progression found in his music. Skazki (fairy tales) are pieces in small form, such as preludes, or novelettes; they hold an important place in Medtner's oeuvre. The fairy tale genre is associated with many artistic traditions, including Russian folk art. Medtner's 38 fairy tales, varied in imagery and character, were composed during different periods of his life. The evolution of the genre is seen in form and harmonic language. The lyrical, subjective mood of the fairy tales of the earlier period, such as op. 8, op. 9 and op. 14, evolve into large-scale works, such as fairy tales op. 20 and op. 35. In his later years, in fairy tales from op. 42, Medtner imbues the form with a greater clarity of expression, a tendency to move toward simpler musical expression, and an expanded use of thematic Russian folklore sources, including more definite ties with song and dance genres.

The dissertation focuses on the early piano sonatas of Russian composer Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880–1951). It approaches them in the context of genre history, confronts them with other composers' works, and discusses them from various analytic perspectives. A special goal is to consider the pieces in the aesthetic environment of their time, and to regard them as peculiar instances of the ›sonata principle‹, an ageless conception of musical form. The study is subdivided in three large parts, the first of which presents a summary of sonata composition before Medtner, exploring lines of tradition in Western Europe and Russia. The second part concentrates on Medtner’s musical language and its stylistic features. The third and most comprehensive part provides detailed examinations of eight of Medtner’s piano sonatas, including aspects of their genesis and reception, and making use of recent methods of musical analysis. / Die Dissertation widmet sich den frühen Klaviersonaten des russischen Komponisten Nikolaj Karlovič Metner (1880–1951), die im Kontext ihrer Gattungsgeschichte und im Vergleich mit Musik anderer Urheber betrachtet werden. Ein Hauptanliegen der multiperspektivischen Analysen ist es, den Werkkorpus in ästhetische Kontexte der Entstehungszeit einzubetten und die Einzelwerke als Spezialfälle des ›Sonatenprinzips‹, eines zeitlosen Formkonzepts, darzustellen. Die Studie gliedert sich in drei Sektionen, deren erste die Entwicklungen des Sonatenkomponierens vor Metner zusammenfasst und Traditionslinien in Westeuropa und Russland nachzeichnet. Der zweite Teil ist eine Darstellung der Tonsprache Metners und ihrer stilistischen Merkmale. Der dritte und umfangreichste Teil präsentiert Detailanalysen von acht Klaviersonaten Metners und untersucht die Notentexte mit Hilfe aktueller Analysemethoden.

The dissertation focuses on the early piano sonatas of Russian composer Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880–1951). It approaches them in the context of genre history, confronts them with other composers' works, and discusses them from various analytic perspectives. A special goal is to consider the pieces in the aesthetic environment of their time, and to regard them as peculiar instances of the ›sonata principle‹, an ageless conception of musical form. The study is subdivided in three large parts, the first of which presents a summary of sonata composition before Medtner, exploring lines of tradition in Western Europe and Russia. The second part concentrates on Medtner’s musical language and its stylistic features. The third and most comprehensive part provides detailed examinations of eight of Medtner’s piano sonatas, including aspects of their genesis and reception, and making use of recent methods of musical analysis. / Die Dissertation widmet sich den frühen Klaviersonaten des russischen Komponisten Nikolaj Karlovič Metner (1880–1951), die im Kontext ihrer Gattungsgeschichte und im Vergleich mit Musik anderer Urheber betrachtet werden. Ein Hauptanliegen der multiperspektivischen Analysen ist es, den Werkkorpus in ästhetische Kontexte der Entstehungszeit einzubetten und die Einzelwerke als Spezialfälle des ›Sonatenprinzips‹, eines zeitlosen Formkonzepts, darzustellen. Die Studie gliedert sich in drei Sektionen, deren erste die Entwicklungen des Sonatenkomponierens vor Metner zusammenfasst und Traditionslinien in Westeuropa und Russland nachzeichnet. Der zweite Teil ist eine Darstellung der Tonsprache Metners und ihrer stilistischen Merkmale. Der dritte und umfangreichste Teil präsentiert Detailanalysen von acht Klaviersonaten Metners und untersucht die Notentexte mit Hilfe aktueller Analysemethoden.