The purpose of this study is to analyze the compositional techniques in Choses en soi op.45, by Sergey Prokofiev, and to explore the new aesthetic concepts he claimed to include in this composition. Through the examination of the compositional elements and discussion of its salient characteristics.

Belgian composer Joseph Jongen (1873-1953) was an eclectic composer who successfully maintained his own unique musical vocabulary—particularly in his piano compositions. Jongen composed very little between 1940-1941—the period in which he and his family fled to the countryside of Mazères, France, living as refugees for several months before returning to Sart-lez-Spa, Belgium, due to the outbreak of WWII. Reflective of this time in his life, Vingt-quatre petits préludes dans tous les tons pour piano, op. 116 is composed in a particularly intimate and despairing way. Through a complete Schenkerian analysis and outline of the musical framework of op. 116—Jongen's last collection of piano pieces—this dissertation sheds light on the technique, imagination, and uniqueness of Jongen's WWII-period piano compositions. More specifically, this research outlines the deep-level tonal and formal structures, investigates the cryptic semantic meaning and intimate personal expression, and defines the aesthetic achievements of Jongen's Twenty-four Little Preludes in All Keys for Piano, op. 116.

As a political disturbance and social movement, the Cultural Revolution hugely impacted the development of Chinese piano art. The piano went through many stages throughout this ten-year period. This dissertation examines the suppression and later expansion of piano music in China during the Cultural Revolution, along with the historical motivations and forces that shaped each stage of its development. The study is supported by historical documents and relevant literature. This dissertation includes an analysis of the roles that piano music played during this era and the piano's relationship with the Cultural Revolution's modernizing goals. The analysis focuses on the musical characteristics of three piano pieces from this period and explores the instrument's historical importance, to better understand how Chinese piano music maintained a careful balance between its value as a tool for socio-political propaganda and its transformation under the burden of political pressure and creative limitations. Additionally, this dissertation examines playing techniques in these works that define a distinctly Chinese piano style that is enormously popular today. To complement the dissertation, these piano pieces were performed during the dissertation recital.

Is conducting from the piano "real conducting?" Does one need formal orchestral conducting training in order to conduct classical-era piano concertos from the piano? Do Mozart piano concertos need a conductor? These are all questions this paper attempts to answer.

It is often challenging for early advanced piano students to move from intermediate level repertoire to standard repertoire because the techniques and difficulties present in the new repertoire are simply too overwhelming for them. "A Holy Night: 10 Arrangements of Timeless Carols" can help bridge the gap between the two repertoire categories by introducing several advanced techniques and combinations of techniques to early advanced students in a non-overwhelming way. Several standard techniques that were widely used by composers of different styles are addressed in the arrangements: legato and chord playing, orientation in different keys, pedaling, dynamics and octave playing. The topic of fingerings is also covered since using correct fingerings is a key for any technique to work. The arrangements help to prepare early advanced students for standard repertoire by allowing them to learn, practice, and perform a variety of standard repertoire techniques in short and engaging pieces. This dissertation is intended to demonstrate to private piano teachers ways in which this arrangement of mostly well-known seasonal tunes can be used to assist in the transition to more advanced repertoire.

As it stands, only one arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23 orchestral reduction exists, which is by Tchaikovsky himself. A number of critical editions of the piece exist, but none of them cover the subject of the material within the orchestral reduction. Tchaikovsky wrote the reduction from a compositional rather than a pianistic perspective, thus some passages present awkward technical challenges. The purpose of this dissertation is ultimately to contribute to the repertoire of accompanists by producing a new edition of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. I created my arrangement through a process of practical trial and error as well as observing the strategies used by other arrangers of orchestral reductions. Through a series of carefully selected omissions, note rearrangements, visual adjustments, and editorial changes, I simplified the reduction as a whole. I sought to improve the readability of the music by reducing accidentals as much as possible and also incorporating small-print cues into the main staves. Each minor adjustment or major revision contributes cumulatively to the ease of execution of the accompanimental part as a whole. Although Tchaikovsky's reduction is authentic and authoritative, a newly revised and simplified version would be useful for collaborative pianists. Thus, …

In the case of Concerto for Orchestra, Béla Bartók transcribed one of his most emblematic orchestral compositions to his own solo instrument, the piano. This transcription's primary function was to suffice for ballet rehearsal accompaniment for the choreography to be introduced alongside a performance of the orchestral work. György Sándor, Bartók's pupil and pianist, prepared the original manuscript for publication. Logan Skelton, pianist-composer, used this published edition as a point of departure for his own piano arrangement of the same work. György Sándor took an editorial approach to the score and followed the manuscript as literally as possible. On the other hand, Logan Skelton treated the same musical material daringly, striving for technical simplicity and a richer orchestral sound. The purpose of this study is to examine and identify the contrasting treatments pertaining to playability, text, and texture in the Bartók-Sándor edition and Skelton arrangement of the two movements, Elegia and Finale, of the Concerto for Orchestra piano arrangement.György Sándor took an editorial approach to the score and followed the manuscript as literally as possible. On the other hand, Logan Skelton treated the same musical material daringly, striving for technical simplicity and a richer orchestral sound. The purpose of this …

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) composed primarily for his instrument, the piano. He did, however, compose five major works for orchestra and a piano concerto. Scriabin's last work for orchestra, Prometheus: Poem of Fire, Op. 60 (1910), exemplifies his mature compositional style. The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute a solo transcription of Prometheus to the piano's rich literature in that genre. Furthermore, the dissertation aims to identify and examine the problems encountered in transcribing this work for solo piano and the decision-making that led to musically acceptable solutions. Throughout the process of arrangement, one major question became apparent: What informs the transcription? In turn, this question and its numerous answers served as a guide during the transcription's realization and are the focus of the project.

In Chinese contemporary piano music, large-scale piano compositions featuring innovative polyphonic musical languages are rarely found. Chang-Lei Zhu's Ballade for Solo Piano represents his development of contrapuntal techniques passed on from J. S. Bach and Dmitri Shostakovich in their polyphonic works for solo keyboard or piano. This study focuses on an analysis of Zhu's Ballade as an idiosyncratic composition that makes a significant contribution to the Chinese contemporary piano music repertory. Comparative analysis is made of Zhu's Ballade and J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Books 1 and 2, as well as Dmitri Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues for Solo Piano, Op. 87. Zhu, a living Chinese composer born in 1976, uniquely writes the twenty variations of his Ballade based on the opening theme, a single melody in ten subphrases. This research lays out the close relationship of the opening theme with twenty variations in the Ballade. This study also illustrates how Zhu is an innovative voice in Chinese contemporary piano music literature. This comparative study constitutes the first scholarly study of Zhu's Ballade. Chapter 1 is an introduction to my comparative study. In chapter 2, comparisons on selected excerpts are conducted between Zhu's Ballade and J.S. Bach's WTC, Books 1 and …

The present dissertation consists in an original composition for solo piano, titled Seven Nocturnes (2020). The score is preceded by a critical essay in which I discuss the overall aesthetic and formal qualities of the work, its musical, philosophical, theoretical, and historical background, as well as specific performance suggestions for future interpreters. Particular emphasis is given to the work's experimental use of musical time and original approach in relating expanded time with directional harmony.

Young Ja Lee (b. 1931) is regarded as one of the most important living female composers in Korea. She leads and contributes to the Korean classical music society as a gifted composer and a dedicated educator. This study focuses on how she has combined Western compositional techniques with elements of Eastern traditional music in some of her compositions, in particular, her Variations pour piano "Umma ya, Nuna ya." An interpretation of her Variations pour piano "Umma ya, Nuna ya" reveals that the composition features many of the particular and sublime aspects of Western compositional techniques in conjunction with traditional Korean music style. This study is an investigation of the interaction and assimilation of these disparate elements. The results of this study may inspire further research into traditional Korean music and bring recognition to important Korean composers, as well as encourage music educators to teach Korean composers' compositions.

As epidemiologic research demonstrates health concerns for hand problems among pianists, scientists are measuring historic piano keyboards and realizing that much of the piano literature was composed for and played on pianos with smaller keys compared to what is used on the modern piano. Having to play this literature on a larger keyboard is especially difficult for small-handed piano students and professionals. Fortunately, smaller keyboards are now available for use with standard pianos - and research shows that this ergonomic adjustment does reduce piano-related hand pain for small-handed musicians. Major universities are now offering this option to students, but only a few music schools possess these keyboards and not many people know about them. There are no known research studies to address people's awareness and attitude toward ergonomically scaled piano keyboards (ESPKs). The purpose of this study was to assess perception and attitude toward ESPKs and help to raise its awareness. To examine pianists' perception, two surveys was composed. First one was conducted on UNT campus in which ESPKs are available for their students, and the second survey was carried out on schools of music in the United States. The results reveal that substantial number of people already know about …

Marianna Martines (1744-1812) was a highly celebrated composer, singer, and keyboardist during her lifetime in Vienna, praised by such dignitaries as Dr. Charles Burney, and achieving the honor of being the first woman composer to be admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna in 1773. She composed both large-scale and smaller works, including masses, oratorios, keyboard sonatas and concerti, cantatas, and arias. Yet today, despite a revival of interest in this important composer, she remains largely unknown and her nearly 70 surviving works remain all too underperformed. The purpose of this dissertation is to add to the existing scholarship by exploring the first movement of her Harpsichord Sonata in G Major, the last of her three extant sonatas, which is marked Allegro brillante, and is indeed a work of technical brilliance and difficulty, through various theoretical frameworks. This study demonstrates the extraordinary nature of this work by invoking classical formal theory, topic theory, with particular emphasis on the "brilliant" and "singing" styles, and the more recent feminist studies illuminating gender-coding in music. This theoretical analysis is considered against the backdrop of sociological studies examining the gender politics of Vienna and other parts of Europe during this time period. This study …

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.

While he was composing his important orchestral tone poem Finlandia in 1899–1900, Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) made his own piano arrangement of it. The purpose of this study is to compare the piano arrangement and orchestral version and to see further the similarities with Sibelius's other piano compositions from the same time period (1899-1904). Through this study I have found compositional patterns, which are typical for the composer and defined his composition style for piano during his "Kalevala-Romantic" phase. Sibelius's piano style was characterized as unpianistic and bulky by some. However, through my research I can show that with an analysis of certain harmonic structures, subtle use of pedal and correct voicings, his piano texture is indeed very thoughtful and transparent with a clear focus on counterpoint while remaining pianistic and comfortable to play. In order to fully understand the idiosyncrasies of the two versions of Finlandia, a detailed comparative analysis of the piano and orchestral scores is necessary. For this purpose, I primarily used the printed scores of both the piano and orchestral versions. In addition, the manuscript of the piano version of Finlandia was consulted as an important resource. From the orchestra manuscript, only one page has been found. …

In 1895, Emil Georg Conrad Sauer (1862-1942), a world-renowned German pianist and former student of Franz Liszt wrote his first piano concerto, which was published five years later in 1900. Sauer performed it extensively to enthusiastic crowds in Europe and the United States while on tour during the next several years. Then it vanished from the concert repertoire. It is no longer performed and has only been commercially recorded once. The purpose of this dissertation is to establish why it might have disappeared, and why there is value in bringing it back to the standard piano repertoire.

This dissertation provides comprehensive performance perspectives for the interpretation of the published keyboard toccatas by Michelangelo Rossi (ca.1602-1656) in his collection, Toccate e Correnti d'Intavolatura d'Organo e Cimbalo (c. 1634). This document consults the following sources on keyboard practice in the early-Baroque period: Girolamo Diruta's Il Transilvano Dialogo Sopra Il Vero Modo Di Sonar Organi, & Istromenti da penna (1593); Adriano Banchieri's Conclusioni nel Suono dell'Organo (1609); Costanzo Antegnati's L'Arte Organica (1608); and the prefaces to Girolamo Frescobaldi's publications Toccate e Partite d'Intavolature di Cembalo, Libro Primo (first version 1615; second version 1615, 1616, 1628; and third version 1637), and Fiori Musicali (1635). These sources provide information on most aspects of keyboard—and specifically organ—playing in the decades leading up to, and at the time of, the initial publication of Rossi's toccatas: including the toccata as genre, Italian organs from the late-Renaissance/early-Baroque, registration, tempo, pedaling, fingering, articulation, and ornamentation. In addition to the performance perspectives, this dissertation also provides a new modern edition of the ten toccatas by Michelangelo Rossi. This edition is based on the 1657 Bologna facsimile. The goal of this edition is two-fold. First to present an accurate text of the facsimile and second to adjust certain beam-groupings, …

Improvisation is an art form which has arguably been present since the existence of music itself. Inventing music on the spot, like spontaneous speech, is a common expression of artistry throughout history and across musical boundaries. While improvisation has maintained its importance in jazz, classical organ music and the music of many eastern cultures, this dissertation will focus on the presence of improvisation as acceptable performance practice within the tradition of western classical music. At several points in history, this musical tradition was encouraged and even expected to be a regular part of a musician's life, and yet in the classical music tradition of the twenty-first century, improvisation is rarely, if ever, heard from the concert stage, nor is it regularly included in the general education of the conservatory student.

The objective of this dissertation is to review the discrepancies between Concert Sans Orchestre and Grande Sonate edited by Ernst Herttrich, Grosse Sonate No.3 Op.14 Erste and Zweite Ausgabe edited by Clara Schumann of Robert Schumann's No.3 Op.14, providing assistance for performers by clarifying inconsistencies between the three editions. Information in reference to major aspects such as notes, rhythms, metronome marking and expression signs is presented. Examples of discrepancies found throughout the first movement are discussed in Chapter 3. Suggested solutions are followed by each example.

Ping Gao is a composer-pianist in China. The purpose of this research is to provide a pedagogical analysis of Ping Gao's solo piano suite Distant Voices (1999), with intent to introduce Chinese folk music and contemporary characteristics in the twentieth century to early advanced piano students. After an introduction, chapter 2 presents an overview of Ping Gao's biographical information and his compositional style. Chapter 3 provides resources and information of folk music tradition related to this selected work. Chapter 4 analyzes Distant Voices with respect to the Chinese folk idioms, including folk songs, the sound of the folk instruments, and pentatonic modes and scales. Chapter 5 then analyzes the work with respect to its contemporary characteristics, including non-traditional harmony (secundal, quartal, and quintal chords) and contemporary rhythm and meter (shifted accents, asymmetric meters, and mixed meter). Chapter 6 examines some further technical challenges in performing the work. This work can be considered a helpful source for piano teachers to incorporate folk music styles from different regions of the world into their teaching, cultivating students' appreciation for other cultures and music styles.

It is the teacher's responsibility to guide students in building an effective and injury-free piano technique. Improper technique, poor training and bad posture at the instrument all may cause problems such as lack of muscle control, weakness, or tension in the hands. Many teachers are interested in finding information about specific exercises dealing with finger strengthening, stretching, and warm-up strategies, as well as guidelines for safe practicing. It is therefore important for both teachers and students to understand how to build a technique from the earliest years of instruction. Carl Tausig (1841-1871) and Alfred Cortot (1877-1962) both contributed to the development of piano technique by writing books that include a significant number of exercises and excerpts. Their books incorporate detailed instructions on how to play each exercise effectively and without fatigue. Subsequently, Heinrich Ehrlich (1822-1899) collected and systematically arranged Tausig's notes, complementing them with detailed information on how to play Tausig's exercises without causing injury. This dissertation compares and contrasts the exercises found in Alfred Cortot's book, Rational Principles of Pianoforte Technique, and Carl Tausig's book, Daily Studies for the Pianoforte. The latter is based on the practical guidebook, How to Practise on the Piano: Reflections and Suggestions, written by …

Alberto Nepomuceno was one of the leading figures in developing Brazilian art music at the turn of the twentieth century. He became widely known for his Brazilian art songs and kept promoting Brazilian music and the use of Portuguese as an "art language" throughout his life. Nepomuceno has widely been seen as a nationalist composer, yet some of his works adopt a more European style. In this study, I argue that Nepomuceno incorporates European musical languages in his Piano Sonata in F Minor, Op. 9. I display the rich interaction of Brazilian national identity and European influence within Nepomuceno's musical life. I also provide a thorough formal analysis of this piano sonata to argue that in some of his music he adopted a distinctively European musical language, including baroque and classical elements. In addition to analyzing the sonata-form and rondo-form elements, this dissertation discusses the use of several important topics in the work, including the Siciliano rhythm, contrapuntal writing, pedal points with organ effects, and impact of Brahms on Nepomuceno's piano writing. Moreover, I analyze how Nepomuceno assimilated European musical styles as the basis for his own compositions, as well as the innovations with which he augmented those styles. An …

In his Art of Piano Playing, the renowned Russian pianist and teacher Heinrich Neuhaus asserts that the concept of an "artistic image" can give musical meaning to the score, help pianists to understand the musical content of a composition, and help students to find pianistic expression in the details. The concept of artistic image can be applied in pedagogy, guiding young pianists to learn content and organize their practice. The artistic image is the picture of a musical idea and the musical language, which comes from melody, phrasing, musical structure, and the emotional and poetic content. Twelve Children's Pieces of Medium Difficulty, Op. 31, is one of the important works for young pianists by Reinhold Glière (1875–1956). The set has emotional characteristics that allow intermediate young pianists to grasp its rich content and then develop technically. His piano works have been little studied by scholars as part of a pedagogical approach. This pedagogical guide uses the concept of artistic image in Glière's work to help young pianists, or their teachers, prepare this work thoroughly and perform it successfully on the stage.

A Poem Carved in Stone, a work for piano solo by Washington DC-based Chinese composer Wu Yiming was composed in Spring 2020 and is dedicated to the author of this dissertation. The piece is inspired by the poetry of Han Shan, a recluse who lived during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). His poetry is in Chan (Zen) tradition. Wu depicts the imagery and philosophy in Han Shan's poetry through highly complex rhythms, extreme sound effects and pitches, tone clusters, and extended piano techniques. This dissertation provides practical instructions for achieving these effects and executing the unconventional techniques found in this piece, which include playing inside of the piano, various standing and sitting positions, and coordination and balance. A guide to interpret this piece is from both the composer's and the performer's perspective. Observations are drawn directly from communications and coaching received from the composer. This study briefly explores the historical and cultural context of Han Shan's poetry and discusses how Wu's use of modern western compositional devices reflects the Zen philosophy. An interview with the composer is included along with an overview of both his compositions and those of composers who influenced him. It is hoped that this dissertation will …