Thesis--University of Maryland. / Vita. Photocopy of typescript. Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International, 1978. -- 22 cm. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 195-202).

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James Sellars has established himself as one of America's foremost composers whose eclectic style reveals a wealth of influences. His artistic combination of various traditional and avant-garde techniques, along with his sensitive and expert craftsmanship has earned him an important position in contemporary American music. Sellars' compositional styles have encompassed neo-Romanticism, in his early days, through post-serialism and Dada to an eclectic, post-Romantic style utilizing popular elements including electro-acoustic techniques. His extensive catalog of over 150 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chorus, dance, chamber, voices with ensemble, solo voice, piano, instrumental solos, band, and media. Sellars' compositions for piano solo span a 38-year period and total 17 works, the most important of which are his six one-movement sonatas, which represent, according to Sellars, "a journey from modernism to post-modernism." Their value lies in their eclectic stylistic approaches, artistic nd technical challenges, and pianistic effectiveness. The first three sonatas, incorporating post-serial elements, fall into a modernist stylistic stance while numbers four through six, in postmodern style, contrast one another drastically. Sonata Brasileira, recalls the broad sweeping gestures of the Romantic period; Sonata V reveals the influence of the absurdist Dada movement; and the last sonata Patterns on a Field, blends minimalism with elements of rock music. These sonatas represent Sellars' significant contribution to the genre of the piano sonata and deserve a position among other important American piano sonatas of the twentieth century. Despite Sellars' numerous successes and highly active performance schedule, no study or research has focused on the composer or any of his works. Taken as a whole, the six sonatas represent an important yet relatively unknown body of twentieth century solo piano literature, which justifiably merit further study and performance. The aim of this dissertation is to provide an introduction to the composer and present a study of the sonatas through an analysis focusing on the aspects of form, rhythm, texture, and style.

This thesis has been written with several goals in mind. The first purpose has been to inform the reader about the life of Charles Ives and the influences he experienced that gave him the impetus to experiment and write music of a nature thirty years ahead of its time, while the rest of the world was basking in the waning light of Romanticism. The second purpose has been to describe in a short space general characteristics that may be found throughout the entire musical output of Ives. The third purpose has been to analyze in greater detail the major portion of his contributions to piano literature, the three piano sonatas, so that the student may better understand the complexities which will face him in performance of these compositions. Perhaps the strongest motivation for the present study has been the hope that it might induce more students to be explorers themselves and become familiar with this music of Ives.

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) was one of the leading South American composers of the twentieth century. Born in Argentina at a time when his country was striving to achieve a national identity and culture, Ginastera was recognized for combining the techniques of Western European art music with elements of Argentine folk music. His piano sonatas, composed during both his early and late periods, serve as excellent examples of this cultural synthesis throughout the course of his career. The Sonata No. 1 for Piano Op. 22 (1954), Sonata No. 2 for Piano Op. 53 (1981), and Sonata No. 3 for Piano Op. 54 (1982) have been analyzed and discussed in recent scholarship. Theorists have identified Western techniques such as sonata-rondo form, serialism, and symmetry in his compositions. Yet, when addressing rhythm, scholars have focused primarily on highlighting the Argentine dance or Amerindian rhythm that the music exemplifies and have neglected to apply Western analytical tools for analyzing rhythm. The goal of this paper is to approach rhythm and meter in the piano sonatas from a new perspective in order to identify Ginastera’s Western European musical techniques. Attention will be given to Ginastera’s use of and denial of metric hierarchy and periodicity. The paper will also focus on consonant and dissonant rhythms in the piano sonatas, as well as additive and subtractive rhythms. Because any discussion of rhythm and meter in Ginastera’s music cannot ignore its nationalistic origins, the paper provides an introductory chapter that discusses Argentine dance iii rhythms. However, the bulk of the paper aims to provide analyses from a Western art music viewpoint that illustrate Ginastera’s compositional manipulation of rhythm and meter.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the first movements of Sergei Bortkiewicz's two piano sonatas and compare them with works by other composers that may have served as compositional models. More specifically, the intention is to examine the role of the subdominant key in the recapitulation and trace possible inspirations and influences from the Classical and Romantic styles, including Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. The dissertation employs Schenkerian analysis to elucidate the structure of Bortkiewicz's movements. In addition, the first movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata K. 545, Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, and the first movement of Schubert's "Trout" Quintet in A, D. 667, are examined in order to illuminate the similarities and differences between the use of the subdominant recapitulation by these composers and Bortkiewicz.

The purpose of this paper will be to compare the Hindemith theory of harmonic tension as set forth in his book, Craft of Musical Composition, with his actual use of harmonic tension in compositional practice. The compositions used for this study are Hindemith's Sonaten für Klavier, published in 1936, consisting of three sonatas*. Although these pieces were published one year before the theory book, it seems reasonable to assume that Hindemith was at least formulating the ideas that would go into his book, and quite possibly was already writing it. The copyright date of the book is 1937. Therefore, any conclusions derived from the following analysis will not be affected to any degree by the time lapse between the writing of the two works in question. Analysis of the Sonaten für Klavier by Paul Hindemith reveals the fact that each of the sonatas is very different from the other two; hence, conclusions which apply to all three works are not generally possible.

John Ireland is one of the most important British composers of the twentieth century. Many scholars believe the works of his early period were deeply influenced by Brahms. After graduating from the Royal College of Music, Ireland went on to develop a much more individual musical language, with influence from contemporary French composers. However, the young composer found himself confronted with the challenge of finding a new and personal style without turning wholly to impressionism or to chromaticism. In Ireland's Piano Sonata, Ireland adopted several of Brahms' compositional techniques. This piano sonata is an excellent example of one of Ireland's mature works that still demonstrates Brahms' influence.

When Alberto Ginastera's oeuvre is viewed as a whole, an essential continuity between compositional ideas often appears in different works. This is especially apparent in the three piano sonatas, where each sonata represents an evolution and a condensation of ideas occurring in the previous one. The evolution of ideas throughout the three sonatas takes place through two primary processes. The first is a shift in cultural focus from reliance on Ibero-American material in the first sonata (1952) to Amerindian in the second (1981), to a synthesis of the two cultural elements in the third (1982). The second means of evolution from sonata to sonata is through a process of symmetrization. Along with constructions using symmetrical scales, material in each of the three sonatas is subjected to various symmetrical procedures which correspond musically to basic geometric symmetry types or operations (bilateral, rotational, and translatory, for instance). The decreasing number of movements evidences a negative dilatation of material, moving from four movements in the first sonata to three in the second, to one in the third. In each case, corresponding material from the previous sonata is integrated into the following sonata. Both independently and as a group the three piano sonatas exhibit "invariance under a transformation."

Sections of Haydn's piano sonatas chosen for study have been analyzed to determine the composer's technique in modulation and the key schemes resulting from these modulations, and to discover the consistent patterns and exceptional patterns in these sonata movements as a group. As revealed in this analysis, Haydn is consistent in that the key scheme patterns of several development sections are identical. Also modulations, as categorized according to key relationships, are often accomplished by the same or similar procedures. However, there are important and interesting exceptions to these consistent practices which add variety and seem to contribute to Haydn's growth as a composer