This DMA project is composed of two parts. The first is this manuscript focusing on the following piano music: J. S. Bach's Partita No. 2 in C Minor, Joseph Haydn's Fantasia in C Major, Hob. XVII: 4, and Robert Schumann's Carnaval, Op. 9. The manuscript examines the historical, musical, and performance considerations for each work. Each discussion of a work begins with a brief historical background, then covers the selected music, beginning with a study of the development of each genre⎯Partita, Fantasia, and the Character Piece. The majority of this manuscript focuses on the musical analysis and the intention is to enlighten the listener's appreciation of performance issues such as musical timing, pacing, and tone color. The second part of this DMA project is a professional quality disc recording of these three pieces recorded in the Moody Concert Hall at the University of Alabama.