Foliage op. 8 for flute and piano / Daniel Carr -- Sonata in A minor "Arpeggione" for flute and piano / Franz Schubert -- Around, awry for flute doubling picc. and organ / Ethan F. Greene -- Fantasiestucke op. 73 for alto flute and piano / Robert Schumann -- Sonata in A minor for flute and piano / Cesar Franck. / text

Difficulties are encountered in any discussion of Copland's style, for his works cover the spectrum from harsh, dissonant works to folk music. To avoid the task of defining a style which encompasses this array of vastly different pieces, a sharp distinction is frequently made between the abstract and popular works. However, Copland has repeatedly objected to such categorization, claiming that he composed from a single vision. A careful examination of his total output proves the validity of his claim. Many common characteristics are found throughout works from all categories and time periods. These traits include a basic economy of materials, emphasis on thirds, consistent method of development, use of declamation, jazz-influenced rhythms, cyclicism, and a slow/fast/slow sequence of movements, as well as within single movements. This document uses the Piano Sonata as a model of Copland's style, for it exemplifies these characteristics more clearly than any other major piece for piano. By making numerous comparisons with other works, Copland's single vision is revealed.

Although the topoi and elements of what has been described as the “Venerable Style” (V.S.) are found in many places in Mozart’s solo keyboard sonatas, the obsessive juxtaposition of these elements against brilliant, concerted, Empfindsamer Stil, and Sturm und Drang topoi can be shown to define the first and third movements of his minor key piano sonatas K.310 and K.457. This thesis will investigate using the theoretical tools developed by a range of Topic Theory authors such as Ratner (1980,) Allanbrook (1983,) Hatten (2004,) and Monelle (2000, 2006,) a newly developed analytical concept known as topical expansion, and the structural framework provided by Hepokoski and Darcy (2006) to prove that the venerable topoi are not purely referential gestures, but are also vital parts of the structural content of each of the sonatas and their respective single movements. In line with Caplin (2005)’s warning that the venerable and learned styles are some of the only historically developed and generally accepted topoi with formal (structural) ramifications, this thesis will argue that K.310 and K.457’s surface content is built largely upon the application, troping, and expansion of V.S. topoi in the key formal regions given in Hepokoski and Darcy (2006). As a result of comparative analysis, a further topical level of unity and compositional organization will be shown to be present in the works justifying Kinderman (2006) and Irving (2010)’s conception of the works’ stylistic affect as avant-garde and romantic in execution. Additionally, analysis of the works’ strictly controlled topoi will show each work to be in opposition to Allanbrook’s conception of Mozart’s music as a “miniature theater of gestures,” suggesting that their austere affect is programmed at the topical level in addition to their tonal and formal content (Allanbrook 1992, 130).

The Piano Sonatas of Rodolfo Halffter (b. 1900, Madrid, Spain) represent an important body of literature not widely known nor understood for their historical importance and Spanish heritage. The entire development of Halffter's compositional style, which embraces three periods of composition, may be traced through these sonatas. The modes of composition may be seen not to be separate and distinct but as having inter—relationships which therefore affect the outcome of Halffter's final dodecaphonic technique. The culmination of his serial method is found in the Tercera Sonata, op. 30. At first glance, this work appears to be a radical departure from the former styles. However, a more in-depth study reveals this sonata to be the logical outgrowth of earlier compositional techniques, thereby blending diverse, eclectic elements into a unique and homogenous application, all Halffter's own. Forced to flee his native country in 1939, Halffter became the first composer in Mexico to use twelve-tone techniques. Together with Carlos Chavez, he exerted great influence on the present generation's group of Mexican composers. Halffter today remains a crucial link in the continuation of the Spanish tradition as exemplified by his former mentor, Manuel de Falla. A brief explanation of Falla s theory of resonance including sketches in Falla's handwriting as well as portions of the unpublished analysis of Halffter's Tercera Sonata are presented, perhaps for the first time. This study reveals how Halffter manipulates many Spanish elements which are found in the ancient cante iondo and the string tunings of the guitar in addition to the use of acciacaturas and the internal rhythm of Domenico Scarlatti into a personalized idiom which remains apparent throughout all his compositional styles. An analysis of Halffter s Tercera Sonata shows that the final period is characterized by a unique blending of Falla's "apparent poly-tonality" with the twelve-tone system of Arnold Schoenberg.

Sonata in A major, Opus 120, was written by Franz Schubert in 1819. The sonata was chosen for this study because of its proximity to the middle of the span of time in which Schubert wrote his piano sonatas. His first piano sonata was written in 1815 and the last in 1828. Since no sonatas were written in either 1821 or 1822, the years in the middle of this span, the sonata written in 1819 was chosen.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Maryland, College Park, 2007. / Compact discs. Includes bibliographical references.

Este estudo do primeiro movimento da Sonata II para piano de Bruno Kiefer parte do ponto de vista do executante. Reunindo cartas, documentos e outras evidências do arquivo do compositor, apresenta uma análise que expõe uma concepção pessoal dos significados referenciais transmitidos pela obra. O entendimento da linguagem musical do compositor, obtido através dos processos composicionais e dos ambientes emocionais constituem-se em ferramentas de suporte para a interpretação. / This study approaches the first movement of Bruno Kiefer’s Piano Sonata II from the performer standpoint. Based on letters and other archival material as well as an extensive analysis of compositional elements, the author presents referencial meanings related to emotional states resulting in an interpretive analysis.

Este estudo do primeiro movimento da Sonata II para piano de Bruno Kiefer parte do ponto de vista do executante. Reunindo cartas, documentos e outras evidências do arquivo do compositor, apresenta uma análise que expõe uma concepção pessoal dos significados referenciais transmitidos pela obra. O entendimento da linguagem musical do compositor, obtido através dos processos composicionais e dos ambientes emocionais constituem-se em ferramentas de suporte para a interpretação. / This study approaches the first movement of Bruno Kiefer’s Piano Sonata II from the performer standpoint. Based on letters and other archival material as well as an extensive analysis of compositional elements, the author presents referencial meanings related to emotional states resulting in an interpretive analysis.

Este estudo do primeiro movimento da Sonata II para piano de Bruno Kiefer parte do ponto de vista do executante. Reunindo cartas, documentos e outras evidências do arquivo do compositor, apresenta uma análise que expõe uma concepção pessoal dos significados referenciais transmitidos pela obra. O entendimento da linguagem musical do compositor, obtido através dos processos composicionais e dos ambientes emocionais constituem-se em ferramentas de suporte para a interpretação. / This study approaches the first movement of Bruno Kiefer’s Piano Sonata II from the performer standpoint. Based on letters and other archival material as well as an extensive analysis of compositional elements, the author presents referencial meanings related to emotional states resulting in an interpretive analysis.

George Walker, pianist, composer and pedagogue, composed piano sonatas in 1953, 1957, 1975, and 1984. The Sonata No. 4 demonstrates the composer's continued fascination with a relaxation of traditional forms, coloristic effects of persistent interval combinations, incorporation of folk elements into his thematic material, and harmonic and rhythmic underpinnings as structural bases to his work.