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Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is one of the most iconic pieces of Western classical music. The arpeggiated, fantasy-like beginning of the first movement in particular has made its way into the collective cultural musical knowledge. But what should you know about the Moonlight Sonata? Read on to find out!
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- Why The Name?
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That title, naturally, is probably not Beethoven’s. The coiner of the sticky ‘moonlight’ label, so to speak, is supposed to have been the poet and music critic Ludwig Rellstab, who remarked in 1836 that the first movement reminded him of moonlight on Lake Lucerne, Switzerland. The nickname has done the sonata few favors, masking – maybe belittling ...
Beethoven composed the sonata in 1801 and dedicated it to one of his pupils, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi – once thought to have been Beethoven’s mysterious ‘Immortal Beloved’ (though now the musicological finger points more strongly towards Antonie Brentano). The first, hypnotic, movement is the most well-known; the dotted rhythm of its minimal m...
The work’s exceptional popularity dates back to Beethoven’s own day. He even commented in a letter that its runaway success puzzled him; he was sure he had written better pieces than this. Yet its appeal has never dimmed. The nature of the music, so strongly defined, speaks its message to every age. The use of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata in film...
At the piano, I’ve found Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata difficult to play, but not always in the way one might expect. The final movement, with its furious outbursts, sounds like the hardest; more difficult, though, is to balance the texture and the melody of the opening movement, to maintain the evenness of tone, and to create the appropriate atmo...
Murray Perahia’s Beethoven: Piano Sonatasop. 106 ‘Hammerklavier’ & op. 27/2 ‘Moonlight’ Gramophonenoted, “Murray Perahia, one of today’s very finest pianists, brings intelligence, grace and virtuosity to these most well-known of sonatas – a superb recording of real drama and beauty …Murray Perahia on formidable form …with interpretations that stand...
- Jessica Duchen
- 4 min
Apr 5, 2024 · Moonlight Sonata, solo piano work by Ludwig van Beethoven, admired particularly for its mysterious, gently arpeggiated, and seemingly improvised first movement. The piece was completed in 1801, published the following year, and premiered by the composer himself, whose hearing was still adequate but.
- Betsy Schwarm
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi. The name Moonlight Sonata (German: Mondscheinsonate) grew popular later, likely after Beethoven's death.
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The unquestionable beauty and depth of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata No. 14 are two of the many reasons this piece has become one of the most popular classical pieces ever written. This article presents a brief guide to the artistic interpretation of the first movement of this sonata.
Apr 25, 2017 · Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven: General info. The actual title for Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven is “Piano Sonata no. 14 in C# minor, op. 27 no. 2”. It was written in 1801, and aside from being popular over 200 years later, it was pretty well-loved in Beethoven’s day as well.
Tuesday, January 2, 2024. Beethoven’s most popular sonata, the ‘Moonlight’, has been performed and recorded by hundreds of pianists over the past century. Jed Distler compares a judicious selection of recordings.
