Istria, a multicultural and multi-ethnic region, has historically embraced different ways of singing and playing musical instruments. After analysing the choral compositions of Istrian composers, this paper aims to present the development of personal compositions, which were inspired by Istrian melodies. In addition to that, the paper also provides an overview of Istrian folk music (e.g. playing instruments, singing and dancing) and describes different methods of documenting Istrian melodies along with their usage in music. The main part of the work involves two compositions, which were devised by different approaches. In order to understand the process of preparation and composition, the paper also describes the basic features of choral polyphony and a brief overview of the development of piano and piano-related literature, with an emphasis on form (e.g. variations on a theme). The first composition Zaspal Pave was modelled for mixed choir and based on the homonymous folk melody. The second composition Pojmo, pojmo, written for solo piano, was inspired by the melody from the composition Svatovska, a part of Zlatić’s Istarske suite.