Repertoire to examine for the purposes of composition

[dnephi]

Hi everyone.

I have, for a while, planned to compose some piano solo music.  After some standard practice and composing in the style of Haydn, I want to write a sonata or some kind of large-scale work. 
To do this, I wanted to make it really good, of course.
I plan to use modified sonata form for the first movement, but I don't know how to modify it, and I haven't chosen a program, or whether purely music or having a sense of setting ideas to music. 

However, I have examined and study some works and composers for tonal progressions, techniques of composing, if you will.   Motion, techniques, etc. 

Examples would be, for instance, Brahms short works, Brahms KQuartet, Liszt Sonata, and for effects, Transcendental Etudes, etc.

What do you think I should examine/study/explore and what aspects of each?  I am especially unfamiliar with any such developments or ideas in the twentieth century, but I am a romanticist at heart and because of that, I want it to sound unique, but still have a romantic temperament, but still take advantage of and use all that has been learned for the piano during this time.) 
I would like to assemble a large list  .
Thanks.

For instance:
Brahms Miniatures, chamber music & concerto -forward motion, development, variations, form

[kapellemeister]

You seem to like Brahms. Take a look at his intermezzi. These little gems have a tight structure (unlike the expansiveness of his sonatas). Look at his use of texture as well. For lyrical piano writing, check out Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words. Again these are miniatures, but they're a wonderful example of just how lyrical a piano can get. On the 20th C side look into some of the neoclassical stuff - sonatinas by Bartok and Poulenc, and Walter Piston's Passacaglia.

My advice as a composer - (though you didn't ask for it) - Start small and work up to the bigger stuff. Write some character pieces first. Maybe try your hand at writing an askewed Minuet. Write a lyrical slow piece. You may find that the individual works end up hanging together well as a set. Make it a suite. If you start thinking too big, it can be a bit intimidating.

Send me an email (lynndeborahk2@aol.com) with your snail mail address and I'll send you some of my work.

Lynn

[dnephi]

The reason I mentioned Brahms so much is because the thing which makes Brahms so amazing is his incredible grasp of form and how well-crafted all his pieces are.  His miniatures are good ways of examining (IE, look at the motifs exchanged in his intermezzi). 
However, Brahms never ventured into virtuosity, excepting his PC's and Paganini Variations.
Liszt had a unique style, and many effects or technical developments that may have a way for either new effects or new ways of using them.  Also harmonic innovations that actually sound interesting were things I was thinking of looking for.  He made amazing textures.
Liszt "stretched" the sonata form to be not quite so strict.  In addition, he changed the key signature in the "B" section to different keys with different effects.  Notice Brahms KQuartet in G minor has the scheme I, II, III, IV has key signatures g,c,E-flat, g?  Large-scale structure.
I want the piece to have a great emotional impact, being very dramatic, but not flamboyant or "forced."  How emotion is transferred from chord to chord and tonality to tonality is something that I was thinking about.
Motivic development in Beethoven and Chopin, I was thinking.

Busoni and Liszt used Beethoven sonatas as the ultimate models or sources of inspiration in form or tonality or motivic development.  Textures as well.

Just as an idea of some aspects and some places to look. Thanks for writing.  And I really would like to have your suggestions.

[kriskicksass]

I've been reading a few books to help with my composition. Rimsky-Korsakov's Principles of Orchestration, Structural Hearing (don't remember author), and The Study of Counterpoint (based on the Gradus Ad Parnassum). I don't know what it's doing for my composition (been too busy practicing for auditions to compose), but at least it's interesting reading.

[dnephi]

Btw for a nice quote, I am reading Liszt: sonata in b minor by kenneth hamilton and it randomly tells you a lot about his form in the chapter: forms and formulae.

"For us musicians, Beethoven's work is the pillar of cloud and fire which guided the Israelites through the desert- a pillar of cloud to guide us by day, a pillar of fire to guide us by night, so that we may progress both day and night" His italics.

Now here were some works and what I would look for in these works:

Theme construction: Schubert Lieder, Beethoven, Chopin Sonata

Harmonic construction along with theme:
Liszt TEs, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff concerti, Schubert sonatas, Scriabin random works.

Textures (IE vocabulary):
Alkan Symphony & Concerto, Festin.  Chopin Etudes, Liszt Etudes, Scriabin Etudes, I was thinking maybe even Barber sonata.  I don't know, maybe Messiaen fanatics know- would Messiaen be a model for effects and textures?

Fugal/imitative development:
Bach Fugues, Brahms Miniatures

Variation development: Brahms miniatures, variations serieuses, Bach-Busoni Chaconne, Rachmaninoff Rhapsody.

Counterpoint: Godowsky Passacaglia, Brahms, Beethvoen, Mozart,

Large-scale structure: Brahms large works, Beethoven Large Works, Liszt Large Works, Other symphony, Brahms Chamber Music.

Variations for effects:
Experiments in polytonality, ie Liszt Harmonies du soir
Stretching form or surprising the audience when they expect something different
Dramatically change harmonic progression upon variation or repetition

Motivic development: Liszt Sonata, Beethoven, Chopin B-flat minor sonata

Further suggestions/areas?

My plan is to start off with early haydn and very short pieces of varying character and working my way up.

[kapellemeister]

When writing my passacaglia and fugue I found Bach's "Art of Fugue" and "Musical Offering" to be of great help, as was looking back at the Well-Tempered Clavier.

Lynn

[Nightscape]

I would highly recommend the study of Debussy and Ravel's music for piano for idiomatic uses of the instrument.  Even if you don't like their music so well (it appears as though you are sticking to the romantic composers),  I would highly recommend it anyways, because there are a lot of piano textures and atmospheres you won't find in the romantic works.  And of course, you can apply those textures to more traditionally tonal music, if you like.