The innovative compositions of Miloslav Ištvan (1928-1990) and his influential theoretical writings contributed to the creation of the modern composition school in Brno, capitol of Moravia in the present Czech Republic. Through the vehicle of his three piano sonatas (unpublished, but composed in 1954, 1959, and 1979), this monograph places Ištvan and his music against the political background of ideological repression in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. The unique blend of Moravian folk music and fierce pride in Czech culture are clearly evident throughout Ištvan’s compositional oeuvre and specifically in his piano music. In particular, his sheer creativity and courage to create his own voice under severe artistic deprivation combine to create a body of work that remains one of the most prominent influences in the present-day compositional scene in Brno. Each of the six chronological sections in this monograph employs a single year as a frame of reference. These years were selected both for their political significance and to represent an important event in Ištvan’s personal or musical life. In addition to the biographical details, political context and analysis of the piano sonatas, other significant compositions and contemporary writings are considered to trace the developmental thread of Moravian music. Ištvan’s search for artistic expression brings the lineage of his direct predecessor, Brno compositional giant Leoš Janáček, into the avant-garde New Music movement of the 1960s. Ištvan’s further work as a composition professor and writer of theoretical texts in the 1970s and 80s continues to influence the current generation of composers in the Czech Republic. This monograph calls attention to a composer and his rich body of work, created during politically turbulent times, that remains virtually unknown outside his country of origin. / Music Performance

The ornamentation in the keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti is investigated in light of evidence from late seventeenth and early eighteenth century Spanish treatises and collections. Additionally, calligraphic and statistical evidence from the earliest known manuscripts and printed source for the keyboard sonatas is explored. The study is focused on three ornaments--the appoggiatura, trill, and tremulo--and concludes that: the appoggiaturas in this repertoire were short unless cadential or present in a cantabile tempo, in which case they could be one-third to two-thirds the value of the resolution note; trills were begun on the main note unless preceded by a grace note; tremulo was usually an alternation of a main note with its lower neighbor note and this ornament is normally indicated at points of harmonic prolongation. The last chapter discusses general approaches to arranging these works for the guitar and the specific influence of ornamentation on the performance of the sonatas on guitar. Details from eight sonatas arranged for the guitar are used to exemplify the conclusions of the research.

This presentation demonstrates the significance both historically and aesthetically of the obscure Portuguese composer Carlos Seixas, (1704-1742), to the development of the keyboard sonata during the transitional period between the Baroque and Classic eras. The relationship between Seixas and his better-known colleague Domenico Scarlatti is explored and particular musical styles and techniques generally assumed as innovations of the latter composer are shown to exist in keyboard works of Seixas which probably pre-date those of Scarlatti. Thematically-related multi-movement sonatas and structural techniques anticipating the ternary single-movement sonata design are illustrated in several of Seixas1 sonatas. In addition to the recorded performance of selected sonatas by Seixas, this dissertation includes three tape recordings of selected piano works by J. S. Bach, Barber, Beethoven, Chopin, Franck, Prokofieff, and Scriabin.