The music is complex and fast-moving, with it being based on fast arpeggios and alberti bass lines. By moving the most ‘important’ movement to the end of the work creates anticipation and really can pack a punch!
This movement is typical of an opening movement of a sonata, so the fact it comes at the end in this work was borne out of an experiment Beethoven tried.
#DARK MOONLIGHT SONATA FULL#
This movement has a quintessential classical air to it, with the functional harmony and simple melody leading towards the fiery finale movement.Īs the longest and most weighty movement of the trio, this stormy final movement is full of drive and excitement. By far the shortest of all three movements, I find that this movement is a friendly interlude between two very intense movements.
The second movement is a conventional scherzo and trio movement that is written in Db major – the enharmonic of C# major, making this key the parallel major of the first movement’s key of C# minor. This movement has always been the most popular of three, both in the modern-day, and when Beethoven composed it. These delicate dynamics aid with the atmosphere that Beethoven was likely trying to create. The music never goes beyond piano in dynamic, with most being played ‘very quietly’. The mood of this music is mournful and dark, which creates this unique ghost-like atmosphere. This ostinato rhythm is heard throughout this movement, and also serves as the melodic core of this section. The form is A-B-A, and opens with an octave C# in the left hand, and a triplet sequence in the right. The first movement is in C# minor, and is often played very slowly. However, my opinion is also subjective, so see how you feel after listening to the whole sonata! Thus the movements play out the journey after death, with the fiery final movement offering symbolism of the final fate of the person in question.
Of course, Rellstab’s opinion on this work is subjective, but I would read the first movement as more like a funeral procession of sorts. From that point onwards this name started to be used within publications, and by the mid-nineteenth century this was the universal name used to refer to this work. It was after Beethoven’s death when German music critic Ludwig Rellstab interpreted the first movement as the moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne. Interestingly, the work was not initially labelled as the ‘Moonlight Sonata’, but instead its original title was: Sonata quasi una fantasia (‘Sonata in the manner of a fantasy’). The three movements are laid out as follows: It is thought that Beethoven wanted to start with a prelude to the other movements, which is why the first movement seems like a somewhat introduction to the work. The change in speed throughout the movements give this work momentum for the fiery final movement. Unlike traditional movement arrangement of fast-slow-fast, Beethoven uses a slow-moderate-fast sequence of movements. The different characters that Beethoven creates in each one of these dynamic movements makes this sonata unique, so no wonder it is still so popular! Many of you will know this work for its heart-wrenching first movement, but this work actually has three movements, all of which are fantastic in their own right. The work was dedicated to the Austrian countess, Giulietta Guicciardi, who was briefly a piano student of Beethoven’s. Now known as the Moonlight Sonata, this solo work for piano is regularly performed around the world in recitals, exams, and in homes.
14 (Moonlight Sonata) ContextĬomposed in 1801, Beethoven’s fourteenth piano sonata is perhaps his most famous.
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