The purpose of this study was to acknowledge and bring to light the undeniable significance of Benjamin Britten as a composer and his Piano Concerto in D, Op.13. This dissertation delved into the depth of the concerto with structural and harmonic analysis along with suggested pedagogical methods and performance aspects.The first chapter included an introduction of the piano-concerto genre in general, motivation for the study of Britten's Piano Concerto, review of literature on Britten and the piano concerto, and methodology of the dissertation. The second chapter continued with an overview of Britten's life, accomplishments as a pianist, and his contribution to the piano repertoire in general. The third chapter provided a stylistic analysis on each movement of the concerto. It included structural analysis based on the formal, motivic, thematic, rhythmic, melodic and harmonic elements presented throughout the concerto. Additionally, possible technical challenges and suggestions for practice methods were recommended based on the issues of phrasings, articulations, dynamics, musical expressions and styles. Since each movement has its own unique titles such as Toccata, Waltz, Impromptu, and March, the origins of the genre and Britten's association with the terminology was also examined.The dissertation not only underlined the importance of Britten as a composer for the piano, it also revealed his distinct compositional characteristics shown in the piano concerto in relation to his other significant piano repertoire. The dissertation closed with a summary of the detailed analysis of the concerto and recommended further studies on Britten and his piano concerto. / School of Music

abstract: Hungarian composer, Miklós Rózsa, is primarily known for his career as a film composer, but he wrote over forty-five pieces for the concert hall. The most famous of these works, Theme, Variations, and Finale, was composed in 1933 and premiered the following year, ushering in a long history of performances throughout Europe and abroad in the 1930s and 1940s. This document serves as a guide for performers of Theme, Variations, and Finale by offering biographical information about Rózsa, the compositional history and performance history of the work and recorded legacy, details about its two versions, and a detailed analysis of the score. This document also clarifies important details about the work's performance history, which have previously been recorded inaccurately. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2018

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The purpose of this document is to further the current research and encourage interest in the music of the Mexican composer Ernesto García de León. This paper will advance the current research with an in-depth analysis of the first movement of Sonata No. I, Op.13, Las Campanas (The Bells) for solo guitar. The analysis will focus on the pervasive presence of the melodic and harmonic intervals of perfect fourths, perfect fifths, and tritones as constructive devises throughout the sonata. This will provide interested performers a technical understanding of the composition. In addition to the compositional aspects, the analysis will be extended to consider the programmatic elements described by García de León. Select alternative fingerings will also be given to provide the interpreter options for difficult passages.

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) är en viktig nationallromantisk kompositör inom norskmusikhistoria. Den här studien belyser Edvard Griegs Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 13. Syftet äratt nå en fördjupad förståelse för Edvard Grieg som en nationalromantisk kompositör. I minatvå frågeställningar undersöker jag vad som specifikt karakteriserar Griegs musik som”norsk" i form av hans influenser av norsk folkmusik och hans upplevelser av norsk natur.Med hjälp av instudering och interpretation, litteraturstudier samt experiment har studienssyfte uppfyllts. Resultatet av min egen musikanalys visar på flera exempel där Grieg harinspirerats av norsk folkmusik (halling och springar). Jag belyser även hans strävan attefterlikna den norska hardingfelan i violinstämmans utformning. Dessa resultat bekräftas ilitteraturstudien. Resultat gällande musikelement i sonaten som gestaltar norsk natur tyckerjag mig själv finna stöd för i min egen analys, men jag inser att jag har svårt att frigöra migfrån mina egna upplevelser från den norska naturen och dess kopplingar till Griegs musik.Litteraturstudiens resultat visar på liknande tolkningar, t ex att sonaten har en prägel av sorgoch melankoli, vilket kan tolkas som en reflektion över den norska naturens ödsliga och kargalandskap. I experimentet där 9 deltagare får lyssna på sonaten och välja bland 9 naturtypersom de tycker passar bäst till stycket. Resultatet visar på att ingen väljer den bild som visarnorsk natur (Hardangervidda) men att flera deltagare (5 av 9) väljer naturtyper som kan varaförknippat med ett nordiskt land. I diskussionen ställs frågor om hur det kommer sig attGriegs musik definierar ”ett norskt tonspråk”. Är detta på riktigt eller är det ett resultat avmänniskors konstruktioner med syftet att skapa en nationell identitet i ett politiskt landskapdär Norge strävar efter nationell självständighet från grannländernas flera hundraårigaockupation? / <p>F. Schubert Violinsonat no 4 i A-dur, op. 162, D 574. E. Grieg första satsen ur violinsonat no 2 i G-dur, op 13. E. Ysaye sonat no 3 i d-moll, Ballade, op. 27. (Medverkande Erik Lanninger, piano)</p>

Robert Muczynski (1929-2010), composer, pianist, and educator, is a noteworthy American musician from our time. His prowess as a pianist undoubtedly accounts for the striking number of pieces he wrote for the piano, namely, one concerto, preludes, sonatas, suites, a toccata, and variations. Out of a total of forty-eight pieces with opus numbers, seventeen are for solo piano. This document contains an overview of Muczynski's life as a composer and musician, with an emphasis on his solo piano compositions. The body of the document traces sources of Muczynski's compositional style, especially the influence of Alexander Tcherepnin, his composition teacher and mentor, and Sergei Prokofiev. An analysis of some of Muczynski's shorter piano solo pieces follows: Six Preludes, op. 6, Suite for Piano, op. 13, and Toccata, op. 15. This analysis demonstrates that Muczynski's short piano pieces often exhibit a persistent focus on one generative musical idea within each piece, usually consisting of unifying etude-like material. For variety and color, he relies on frequent changes of metric pulse, sudden accents, highly chromatic harmony and melody, and an extreme range of sound. These stylistic traits are consistent with those previously identified by other scholars in his larger piano compositions.

In contrast to Beethoven’s music, Schubert’s music has been described through the concept of “a-finality” (Fischer 1983), employing the same elements repeatedly. In this sense, Schubert’s music seems incompatible with the kind of “processual” thinking which is typical for Beethoven’s music. This paper addresses such incompatibility through a comparison of the slow movements of Schubert’s piano sonata D 840 with those of Beethoven’s piano sonata No. 8 (op. 13) which is one of the possible precursors for D 840. The second movement of D 840 features an ABABA structure in which the themes of the first part A and the first part B become integrated into the second part A. This kind of integration differs fundamentally from the design of Beethoven’s op. 13, insofar as the two themes are combined while they also maintain their initial form. This mode of combination suggests Schubert’s own type of synthetic or “processual” thinking.

Samuil Feinberg was an important performing pianist, composer, and one of the protagonists of Russian Piano School. Among his numerous piano compositions, the Sixth Sonata is one of the most complex and illustrative of his deeply personal musical ideas. The following performer's guide offers some ideas on interpreting and performing the sonata from the perspective of Russian school pianism. Having trained in Russia for nearly a decade with two of Feinberg's most eminent disciples and assistants (Tatiana Galitskaya and Liudmila Roschina) makes this author part of living chain back to his pedagogical principles. I will draw upon my knowledge and expertise to illustrate how interpretation of Feinberg's Sonata No. 6 embodies many of the particular and subtle aspects of the Russian piano school technique.