The piece is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano,and it was a popular favourite even in his own day.[1] Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata in his early thirties,after he had finished with some commissioned work;there is no evidence that he was commissioned to write this sonata.[1]
Names
The first edition of the score is headed Sonata quasi una fantasia ("sonata almost a fantasy"),the same title as that of its companion piece,Op. 27,No. 1.[2]Grove Music Online translates the Italian title as "sonata in the manner of a fantasy".[3] "The subtitle reminds listeners that the piece,although technically a sonata,is suggestive of a free-flowing,improvised fantasia."[4]
Many sources say that the nickname Moonlight Sonata arose after the German music critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab likened the effect of the first movement to that of moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne.[5][6] This comes from the musicologist Wilhelm von Lenz,who wrote in 1852:"Rellstab compares this work to a boat,visiting,by moonlight,the remote parts of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. The soubriquet Mondscheinsonate,which twenty years ago made connoisseurs cry out in Germany,has no other origin."[7][8] Taken literally,"twenty years" would mean the nickname had to have started after Beethoven's death. In fact Rellstab made his comment about the sonata's first movement in a story called Theodor that he published in 1824:"The lake reposes in twilit moon-shimmer [Mondenschimmer],muffled waves strike the dark shore;gloomy wooded mountains rise and close off the holy place from the world;ghostly swans glide with whispering rustles on the tide,and an Aeolian harp sends down mysterious tones of lovelorn yearning from the ruins."[7][9] Rellstab made no mention of Lake Lucerne,which seems to have been Lenz's own addition. Rellstab met Beethoven in 1825,[10] making it theoretically possible for Beethoven to have known of the moonlight comparison,though the nickname may not have arisen until later.
By the late 1830s,the name "Mondscheinsonate" was being used in German publications[11] and "Moonlight Sonata" in English[12] publications. Later in the nineteenth century,the sonata was universally known by that name.[13]
Many critics have objected to the subjective,romantic nature of the title "Moonlight",which has at times been called "a misleading approach to a movement with almost the character of a funeral march"[14] and "absurd".[15] Other critics have approved of the sobriquet,finding it evocative[16] or in line with their own interpretation of the work.[17]Gramophone founder Compton Mackenzie found the title "harmless",remarking that "it is silly for austere critics to work themselves up into a state of almost hysterical rage with poor Rellstab",and adding,"what these austere critics fail to grasp is that unless the general public had responded to the suggestion of moonlight in this music Rellstab's remark would long ago have been forgotten."[18]Donald Francis Tovey thought the title of Moonlight was appropriate for the first movement but not for the other two.[19]
Carl Czerny,Beethoven's pupil,described the first movement as "a ghost scene,where out of the far distance a plaintive ghostly voice sounds".[20]
Liszt described the second movement as "a flower between two abysses".[7]
Form
Although no direct testimony exists as to the specific reasons why Beethoven decided to title both the Op. 27 works as Sonata quasi una fantasia,it may be significant that the layout of the present work does not follow the traditional movement arrangement in the Classical period of fast–slow–[fast]–fast. Indeed,this sonata is considered one of the earliest pieces of the Romantic era.[8] Instead,the sonata possesses an end-weighted trajectory,with the rapid music held off until the third movement. In his analysis,German critic Paul Bekker states:"The opening sonata-allegro movement gave the work a definite character from the beginning... which succeeding movements could supplement but not change. Beethoven rebelled against this determinative quality in the first movement. He wanted a prelude,an introduction,not a proposition".[21]
The movement opens with an octave in the left hand and a triplet figuration in the right. A melody that Hector Berlioz called a "lamentation",[citation needed] mostly by the left hand,is played against an accompanying ostinato triplet rhythm,simultaneously played by the right hand. The movement is played pianissimo (pp) or "very quietly",and the loudest it gets is piano (p) or "quietly".
The adagio sostenuto tempo has made a powerful impression on many listeners;for instance,Berlioz commented that it "is one of those poems that human language does not know how to qualify".[23] Beethoven's student Carl Czerny called it "a nocturnal scene,in which a mournful ghostly voice sounds from the distance".[1] The movement was very popular in Beethoven's day,to the point of exasperating the composer himself,who remarked to Czerny,"Surely I've written better things".[24][25]
In his book Beethoven's pianoforte sonatas,[26] the renowned pianist Edwin Fischer suggests that this movement of this sonata is based on Mozart's "Ah Soccorso! Son Tradito" of his opera Don Giovanni,which comes just after the Commendatore’s murder. He claims to have found,in the archives of the Wiener Musikverein,a sketch in Beethoven's handwriting of a few lines of Mozart's music (which bears the same characteristic triplet figuration) transposed to C♯ minor,the key of the sonata. "In any case,there is no romantic moon-light in this movement:it is rather a solemn dirge",writes Fischer.
II. Allegretto
The second movement is a relatively conventional minuet in triple time,with the first section of the minuet not repeated. It is a seeming moment of relative calm written in D♭ major,the more easily notated enharmonic equivalent of C♯ major,the parallel major of the first movement's key,C♯ minor. The slight majority of the movement is in piano (p),but a handful of sforzandos (sfz) and fortepianos (fp) helps to maintain the movement's cheerful disposition. It is the shortest of the movements and has been called the "less popular" interlude between the first and third movements.[27]Franz Liszt is said to have described the second movement as "a flower between two chasms".[28]
III. Presto agitato
The stormy final movement (C♯ minor),in sonata form and common time,is the weightiest of the three,reflecting an experiment of Beethoven's (also carried out in the companion sonata Opus 27,No. 1 and later on in Opus 101),namely,placement of the most important movement of the sonata last. The writing has many fast arpeggios/broken chords,strongly accented notes,and fast alberti bass sequences that fall both into the right and left hands at various times. An effective performance of this movement demands lively,skillful playing and great stamina,and is significantly more demanding technically than the 1st and 2nd movements.
Of the final movement,Charles Rosen has written "it is the most unbridled in its representation of emotion. Even today,two hundred years later,its ferocity is astonishing".[23]
Beethoven's heavy use of sforzando (sfz) notes,together with just a few strategically located fortissimo (ff) passages,creates the sense of a very powerful sound in spite of the predominance of piano (p) markings throughout.
Autograph score;the first page has evidently been lost
At the opening of the first movement,Beethoven included the following direction in Italian:"Si deve suonare tutto questo pezzo delicatissimamente e senza sordino" ("This whole piece ought to be played with the utmost delicacy and without damper[s]"[29]). The way this is accomplished (both on today's pianos and on those of Beethoven's day) is to depress the sustain pedal throughout the movement –or at least to make use of the pedal throughout,but re-applying it as the harmony changes.
The modern piano has a much longer sustain time than the instruments of Beethoven's time,so that a steady application of the sustain pedal creates a dissonant sound. In contrast,performers who employ a historically based instrument (either a restored old piano or a modern instrument built on historical principles) are more able to follow Beethoven's direction literally.
For performance on the modern piano,several options have been put forth.
One option is simply to change the sustain pedal periodically where necessary to avoid excessive dissonance. This is seen,for instance,in the editorially supplied pedal marks in the Ricordi edition of the sonata.[30]
Half pedaling—a technique involving a partial depression of the pedal—is also often used to simulate the shorter sustain of the early nineteenth century pedal. Charles Rosen suggested either half-pedaling or releasing the pedal a fraction of a second late.[23]
Joseph Banowetz suggests using the sostenuto pedal:the pianist should pedal cleanly while allowing sympathetic vibration of the low bass strings to provide the desired "blur". This is accomplished by silently depressing the piano's lowest bass notes before beginning the movement,then using the sostenuto pedal to hold these dampers up for the duration of the movement.[31]
Influence
The C♯ minor sonata,particularly the third movement,is held to have been the inspiration for Frédéric Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu,and the Fantaisie-Impromptu to have been in fact a tribute to Beethoven.[32] It manifests the key relationships of the sonata's three movements,chord structures,and even shares some passages. Ernst Oster writes:"With the aid of the Fantaisie-Impromptu we can at least recognize what particular features of the C♯ minor Sonata struck fire in Chopin. We can actually regard Chopin as our teacher as he points to the coda and says,'Look here,this is great. Take heed of this example!' ... The Fantaisie-Impromptu is perhaps the only instance where one genius discloses to us –if only by means of a composition of his own –what he actually hears in the work of another genius."[33]
Carl Bohm composed a piece for violin and piano called "Meditation",Op. 296,in which he adds a violin melody over the unaltered first movement of Beethoven's sonata.[34]
Modern popular music pianists have included core motifs of the piece in their adaptations. Examples include George Shearing,in his 'Moonlight Becomes You,' on his White Satin album and Alicia Keys's 'Remixed &Unplugged' version of her Songs in A Minor album.
In July 1975,Dmitri Shostakovich quoted the sonata's first movement in his Viola Sonata,op. 147,his last composition. The third movement,where the quotation takes fragmentary form,is actually called an "Adagio in memory of Beethoven".
Notes and references
Notes
↑ The title page is in Italian, and reads SONATA quasi una FANTASIA per il Clavicembalo o Piano=forte composta e dedicata alla Damigella Contessa Giulietta Guicciardi da Luigi van Beethoven Opera 27 No. 2. In Vienna presso Gio. Cappi Sulla Piazza di St. Michele No. 5. (In English, "Sonata, almost a fantasia for harpsichord or pianoforte. Composed, and dedicated to Mademoiselle Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi, by Ludwig van Beethoven. Opus 27 No. 2. Published in Vienna by Giovanni Cappi, Michaelerplatz No. 5.") The suggestion that the work could be performed on the harpsichord reflected a common marketing practice of music publishers in the early 19th century (Siepmann 1998, p.60).
↑ This dedication was not Beethoven's original intention, and he did not have Guicciardi in mind when writing the sonata. Thayer, in his Life of Beethoven, states that the work Beethoven originally intended to dedicate to Guicciardi was the Rondo in G, Op. 51 No. 2, but circumstances required that this be dedicated to Countess Lichnowsky. So he cast around at the last moment for a piece to dedicate to Guicciardi. See Thayer, Alexander Wheelock (1921). Elliot, Forbes (ed.). Thayer's Life of Beethoven (reviseded.). Princeton: Princeton University Press (published 1967). p.291 and 297. ISBN0-691-02702-1.
↑ Beethoven, Ludwig van (2004). Beethoven: The Man and the Artist, as Revealed in His Own Words. 1st World Publishing. p.47. ISBN978-1-59540-149-6.
↑ Lenz, Wilhelm von (1852). Beethoven et ses trois styles (in French). Vol.1. St Petersburg. p.225.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Beethoven, Ludwig van (2015). Del Mar, Jonathan; Donat, Misha (eds.). Sonata quasi una Fantasia für Pianoforte (in English and German). Translated by Schütz, Gudula. Kassel: Bärenreiter. p.iii. ISMN979-0-006-55799-8.
↑ Maynard Solomon, Beethoven (New York: Schirmer Books, 1998), p. 139
Rosenblum, Sandra P. (1988). Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music: Their Principles and Applications. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Oster, Ernst (1983). "The Fantaisie-Impromptu: A Tribute to Beethoven". In David Beach (ed.). Aspects of Schenkerian Analysis. Yale University Press. ISBN978-0-300-02800-3.
Siepmann, Jeremy (1998). The Piano: The Complete Illustrated Guide to the World's Most Popular Musical Instrument.
Harding, Henry Alfred (1901). "Sonata No. 14". Analysis of Form in Beethoven's Sonatas. Borough Green Sevenoaks, Kent: Novello. pp.28–29 – via Internet Archive.
Sonata, in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata, a piece sung. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until the Classical era, when it took on increasing importance. Sonata is a vague term, with varying meanings depending on the context and time period. By the early 19th century, it came to represent a principle of composing large-scale works. It was applied to most instrumental genres and regarded—alongside the fugue—as one of two fundamental methods of organizing, interpreting and analyzing concert music. Though the musical style of sonatas has changed since the Classical era, most 20th- and 21st-century sonatas still maintain the same structure.
Ludwig van Beethoven's opus number 27 is a set of two piano sonatas. They were published separately in March 1802. Both sonatas are entitled Sonata quasi una Fantasia, which roughly translated as sonatas in the style of a fantasia. The second sonata is one of the most famous piano works in the repertoire and often called the Moonlight sonata, a contentious name not given by the composer himself. The first sonata remains far less performed than the second and the two sonatas are not commonly performed together.
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B♭ major, Op. 106 is a piano sonata that is widely viewed as one of the most important works of the composer's third period and among the greatest piano sonatas of all time. Completed in 1818, it is often considered to be Beethoven's most technically challenging piano composition and one of the most demanding solo works in the classical piano repertoire. The first documented public performance was in 1836 by Franz Liszt in the Salle Erard in Paris to an enthusiastic review by Hector Berlioz.
The String Quartet No. 14 in C♯ minor, Op. 131, was completed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1826. It is the last-composed of a trio of string quartets, written in the order Opp. 132, 130, 131.
A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement, others with two movements, some contain five or even more movements. The first movement is generally composed in sonata form.
A fantasia is a musical composition with roots in improvisation. The fantasia, like the impromptu, seldom follows the textbook rules of any strict musical form.
The Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is an 1803 sonata for piano and violin notable for its technical difficulty, unusual length, and emotional scope. It is commonly known as the Kreutzer Sonata after the violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer, to whom it was ultimately dedicated, but who thoroughly disliked the piece and refused to play it.
Frédéric Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu in C♯ minor, Op. posth. 66, WN 46 is a solo piano composition. It was composed in 1834 and published posthumously in 1855 despite Chopin's instruction that none of his unpublished manuscripts be published. The Fantaisie-Impromptu is one of Chopin's most frequently performed and popular compositions.
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C♯, D, E, F♯, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major.
C-sharp minor is a minor scale based on C♯, with the pitches C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯, A, and B. Its key signature consists of four sharps.
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A♭, B♭, C, D♭, and E♭. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp minor, has six sharps and the double sharp F, which makes it impractical to use.
Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Piano Sonata No. 12 in A♭ major, Op. 26, in 1800–1801, around the same time as he completed his First Symphony. He dedicated the sonata to Prince Karl von Lichnowsky, who had been his patron since 1792.
Annie Fischer was a Hungarian classical pianist.
Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op. 27 No. 1, "Quasi una fantasia", is a sonata composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1800–1801.
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Cello Sonatas No. 1 and No. 2, Op. 5, are two sonatas for cello and piano written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1796, while he was in Berlin. While there, Beethoven met the King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm II, an ardent music-lover and keen cellist. Although the sonatas are dedicated to Friedrich Wilhelm II, Ferdinand Ries tells us that Beethoven "played several times at the court, where he also played the two cello sonatas, opus 5, composed for Duport and himself". Although Jean-Pierre Duport was one of the King's teachers, it is now thought to have been his brother Jean-Louis Duport who had the honor of premiering these sonatas.
Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi was an Austrian countess and briefly a piano student of Ludwig van Beethoven. He dedicated to her his Piano Sonata No. 14, later known as the Moonlight Sonata.
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