Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin is a Russian composer in the late nineteenth century. His compositions can be divided into three periods. Influenced by the romantic music and Frederic Chopin, the early period is from 1888 to 1902 in which his works are tonal music. In the second period, 1903-1908, Scriabin started to use more dissonances and chromaticism resulting in lacking tonality. In the late period, 1909-1915, Scriabin was impacted by mysticism, and his music style became more atonal. Scriabin¡¦s Mazurkas composed between 1889 to 1903, are in three sets, op.3, op.25 and op.40. The music style of these three sets is quite different and varied. This thesis focuses on the analysis of Scriabin¡¦s Mazurkas. Excluding the introduction and conclusion, there are three main parts. The first part stresses on the origin and history of the music genre ¡§Mazurka.¡¨ According to the historical document, the styles of three types of Mazurka and Frederic Chopin¡¦s Mazurka will be presented in this part. In the second part, the compositional background of Scriabin¡¦s Mazurkas, musical background of late nineteenth century in Russia, and Scriabin¡¦s music style in the three periods are fully discussed. The third part will give a detailed analysis of Scriabin¡¦s three Mazurkas (op.3, op.25 and op,40 ) showing the specific changes in style and different characters between his early and middle period of works.

The lecture recital, "Thema med Variationer, Opus 40, By Carl Nielsen" presented a discussion of the composer's general background and the characteristics of his style. Specific points made were related to the Thema med Variationer; the discussion was followed by a performance of the work in its entirety. In addition to the lecture recital, three other recital programs were organized and public concerts presented to provide the platform for the works studied. Two of these programs were of solo piano music and one was of chamber music with the clarinet and viola in partnership with the piano. All programs were recorded on magnetic recording tape. The spoken portion of the lecture recital in written form is filed with the recordings as a part of this dissertation.

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Different sections or movements of a piece are associated with each other and contain the composer essential thought. A vague affinity of mood and a resembling theme or form testifies to the relationship. However, the evidence is insufficient to reveal the unification of the different sections or movements since these are under restraint of external music proofs. In order to figure out the relationship, thus, identical musical substance should be discovered. In the study the substantial evidence, which can be called unity or unification, is mainly discussed. The unity is illustrated with Brahms's Horn Trio, Op.40 that is one of the Brahms's significant works. The unity found in the Horn Trio is based on the internal structure and structural voice-leading notes. The unity in the Horn Trio is the fundamental structural unity that is divided into initial ascent and voice exchange, and fundamental voice-leading motive. The fundamental unity seriously affects the master piece and penetrates the movements as a whole. Further, it reveals the hidden connections to the historical background of the Horn Trio and the philosophy of Brahms for the music. Even though a piece consists of several sections or movements, the entire piece presents homogeneity. The identity of the composer's underlying philosophical thought suffices to discern the musical unity in a piece. Thus, the investigation of unity is one of the critical ways to understand not merely a piece but also the philosophy of a composer. The study will help to enhance the audience's interpretation of music.