Hans Ulrich Staeps (1909-1988), as a German composer and educator, had been devoted to the development and education on recorders in the 20th century. He highly admired Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), the representative of Neoclassicism in the age, that he often followed his ways of composing. He also applied different music styles in his recorder compositions and brought the recorder music to a new level.

Following the concept and idea of Hindemith’s Neoclassicism, Staeps stated on the front cover of his sheet music “in Modo Preclassico” in Italian to show that his work of Sonata c-Moll in Modo Preclassico für Altblockflöte und Klavier in this study was composed based on the composing style before Classicism. Therefore a touch of Baroque style can be found here and there in this composition. The music is formed with alternative tempos (allegro and adagio) to make the four chapters set off one another and it is accomplished by the dialogue between the alto recorder and the piano.

This study is divided into five chapters. The first chapter explains the motivation, purpose and approaches of my study. The second one discusses the development and changes of the recorders in 20th century from the aspect of the recorder history and evolution. Meanwhile, the life, the work and the music style of Hans Ulrich Staeps is also discussed in this chapter. The third chapter focuses on the analysis of Sonata c-Moll in Modo Preclassico für Altblockflöte und Klavier by its music form and composing methods. The fourth, on the basis of the discussions from Chapter Two and Three, is my personal interpretation to the song considering the tonguing techniques, harmony, and the piano ensemble. Chapter Five is to sum up and to put forward my impression and review of this study.

Keywords: Preclassico, Hans Ulrich Staeps, Recorder