George Gershwin

Richard Crawford, et al. "Gershwin, George." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed February 23, 2013, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/47026. Crawford did a good job of supplying a lot of detailed information about Gershwins life and how it influenced his compositional style. Although there was not a lot of information on the writing of his piano preludes, he does briefly discuss the form of the preludes and how the 12 bar blues may have inspired the first two preludes.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Christoph Wolff, et al. "Bach." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed February 23, 2013, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/40023pg10 . This source seems to be more of a large summary of Bachs life. It explained what and how Bachs WTC came to be but did not go into much detail about the prelude and fugue I am specifically playing. It did have good information about the structure of the books. Hermann Keller, The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach, (New York: WW Norton & Company Inc, 1976), 149-152. I really feel like Keller did a good job of anylazing each prelude and fugue. This source was very helpful because Keller points out certain traits and characteristics in the prelude and fugue that make it unique as well as tie it in with other works by Bach. This is one of my favorite sources.

Marjorie Wornell Engels, Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier An Exploration of the 48 Preludes and Fugues , (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006), 51-55.

Engels analysis of Bachs Prelude and Fugue is amazing. Not only does he point out specific motifs and subjects through out the work, but he also ties it into other works by

Bach. This is a strong convincing analysis.

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Eric Blom, Beethoven's Pianoforte Sonatas Discussed , (London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1938), 190-194. Blom does a good job of analyzing the Sonata but the summary of the analysis is too brief. Lastly, the summary was somewhat difficult to understand. Contains good material, but not much.

Donald Francis Tovey, A Companion To Beethoven's Pianoforte Sonatas, (Bedfrod Square, London: The Associated Board of The R.A.M. and The R.C.M., 1931), 208-215. This source may be the best one I found for Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Tovey goes measure-by-measure explaining what it is he feels Beethoven was trying to do or say. A lot of his analysis is his personal opinion but at the same time a lot of it is concrete theoretical analysis.

Robert Taub, Playing The Beethoven Piano Sonatas , (New Jersey: Amadeus Press, 2002), 152-156. This source was more of how Taub approaches the Sonata in a performance setting. Most of what was said about the Sonata was the authors personal opinion. Although he had some valid points I do not agree with everything that was said about the piece.

C laude D ebussy
E. Robert Schmitz, The PIano Works of Claude Debussy, (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1950), 47-51.

Schmitz did a really good job of giving both background information on Debussy and his compositions. This book contained a decent analysis of each of his major piano works. This is a strong source.
Franois Lesure and Roy Howat. "Debussy, Claude." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed February 25, 2013, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/07353. This is an overall summary of Debussys life and compositional style. It is a good source but lacks detailed information about Debussys Suite Bergamasque. The information about his compositional style during the time that he wrote the Suite is very beneficial though.

Frederic Chopin
Kornel Michaowski and Jim Samson. "Chopin, Fryderyk Franciszek." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed February 25, 2013, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/51099.

This was a very generic biography of Chopins life and compositional style. It does however talk about his composition of polonaises, which contains a lot of important information on the style and structure of the polonaise. I was unable to really find any information about his Scherzo.
John F. Porte, Chopin the Composer and His Music An Nalytic Critique of Famous Traditions and Interpretations as Exhibited in the Playing of Great Pianists past and present, (London: William Reeves Bookseller Limited, 1935), chap. 12-14.

This book has a good amount of information on both the scherzo and polonaise. He focuses more on how the pieces should be performed and the mood/ character each piece should evoke. This was a good solid source