The Moonlight Sonata

BEETHOVEN, Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2
(Quasi una fantasia) (“Moonlight”)
i Adagio sostenuto     ii. Allegretto     iii. Presto agitato
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770—1827)

For my concert at CCF next month I will be performing Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14, known more commonly as the “Moonlight Sonata.”

A program featuring this particular work by Beethoven might be listed as it appears above, complete with the key signature, as well as the opus numbers and tempi of the different movements.

There are however a number of things I want to share with my blog readers beyond the work itself.

Beethoven completed this work in 1801 but never called it the “Moonlight” sonata. That name came in 1832 from German poet and music critic Ludwig Rellstab, who said that the music of the first movement reminded him of moonlight on Switzerland’s Lake Lucerne.

The work was dedicated to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, who became a student of Beethoven in 1801.  Known for her beauty, it seems that he became quite infatuated with her. He describes her to his friend Franz Gerhard Wegeler, a physician, to whom he writes the following words:

“My life is once more a little more pleasant, I'm out and about again, among people – you can hardly believe how desolate, how sad my life has been since these last two years; this change was caused by a sweet, enchanting girl, who loves me and whom I love. After two years, I am again enjoying some moments of bliss, and it is the first time that – I feel that marriage could make me happy, but unfortunately she is not of my station – and now – I certainly could not marry now."

He dedicated the work to her in 1802 and some twenty years later confessed to Anton Schindler, his biographer, that he was in love with her at the time.  His affection for her is also a theme that is used in the 1994 film Immortal Beloved, although some of the details are not historically correct.

Next time I will discuss the role of fate in both the understanding and interpretation of this magnificent work.

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