Vincent Persichetti's Tenth Piano Sonata

This study provides an analysis of the Tenth Piano Sonata, Op. 67 (1955) of the American composer Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987) through an analysis of thematic development, motivic development, melody, and harmony. The evolution of themes throughout each section of the Tenth Piano Sonata is illustrated and discussed, as well as motivic development in the first section, in order to help a performer understand the metamorphosis of musical ideas throughout the work. An understanding of this will allow a performer to achieve an interpretation with a greater sense of structural clarity, as motivic and thematic development serve as the primary unifying forces for the sonata. Melody and harmony in the first section are analyzed in reference to the specific twentieth-century compositional tools and techniques Persichetti draws upon in order to achieve his eclectic and distinct sound. A primary way in which melody and harmony is explored in this study is through re-composition of select phrases. This process involves re-writing particular phrases within the first section to fit within more conventional tonal and modal frameworks. Doing this helps to illuminate the compositional choices Persichetti ultimately made in the Tenth Piano Sonata as well as elucidate his eclectic melodic and harmonic language. In using re-composition as an analytical tool, phrases are chosen that are tonally ambiguous and draw from more than one collection of pitches. The phrases are then re-written to align with a single tonal center and collection of pitches. This process clarifies the harmonic and melodic vocabulary Persichetti utilizes by drawing attention to the motion of the music from one tonal center or pitch collection to another and the unique sound that results from the combined effect of these compositional choices. This can help a performer to develop an intimate understanding of Persichetti’s musical language and therefore lead to a more informed and convincing interpretation.