IndexAn overviewBeethovenAnalysis1st movement – ​​Adagio Sostenuto2nd movement – ​​Allegretto3rd movement – ​​Presto AgitatoConclusionReferencesAn overviewThe Piano Sonata no. 14 in C sharp minor, nicknamed “Moonlight Sonata”, is a piece for solo piano in sonata form, composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. The reason why it was nicknamed "Moonlight Sonata" is due to its traces dating back to 1830, when the German Romantic poet Ludwig Rellstab published a review of it. It was stated that the first movement of the piece illustrated a boat floating in the moonlight on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. It is said to be one of his greatest composed works of art and is admired especially for its mysterious, delicately arpeggiated tone and what is apparently inferred to be an improvised first movement. The piece was first completed in 1801 and was published consecutively the following year. The premiere was performed by Beethoven himself, whose hearing was still adequate enough not to be noticed, but was already deteriorating at the time. Beethoven had originally dedicated this work to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, a 16-year-old aristocrat who was his pupil for a short time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Moonlight Sonata was structurally and stylistically extraordinary in its day. Most sonatas composed in the late 17th and 18th centuries consisted of a rationally lively and thematically distinct first movement, a more passive second movement, and finally a lively final movement. The Moonlight, by contrast, offered a melancholic first movement, a somewhat more energetic second movement, and a final movement that was absolutely tempestuous. The fury of Moonlight's finale was so intensely emotional that many piano strings broke and became entangled in the hammers during the opera's premiere. In fact, during the declining years of his hearing, Beethoven was known to play with a heavy hand, probably so he could hear the music better. BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 and died on March 26, 1827. He was a German composer/pianist, widely known as one of the greatest musicians in all of musical history. His compositions combined voice and instruments in a variety of different ways, giving a new look to the sonata, concerto, quartet and symphony. He is considered the decisive transitional character who united the classical period with the romantic periods in Western music. His personal life was tainted by his constant battle with his increasing deafness and his sister-in-law's court battles, often leaving him in despair, as stated in Heiligenstadt's will: "O you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn O misanthrope, how much you wrong me. You don't know the secret cause that makes me look like this in your eyes and I would have ended my life: it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought to light everything I felt inside me." Analysis The duration of the piece varies from fifteen to twenty minutes, depending on the tempo at which the piece is played, although the tempo of the piece should be sixty bpm (beats per minute). The structure of the piece is in sonata form and is typical of the classical era genre as sonatas were usually three/four movements long. However, what is unique about this piece compared to any other is the tempo. Typically, sonatas went from a fast tempo, to a slow/lively tempo, and then back to a fast tempo. The Moonlight Sonata, on the other hand,goes from a slow tempo, to a lively/medium tempo, and finally to a fast tempo; this was in line with Beethoven's testimony of rule breaking in the world of music. He seemed to like to leave the significant movement until last, and he did so in other sonatas as well (opus 27 no. 1 and opus 101). The texture of the piece begins thin and delicate, providing a dreamy atmosphere, progressing to a moderately sized thickness traditional for the classic minuet and trio, and finally ending with a thick texture of chords in the background and specifically focused on the notes to provide impact on the tone stormy and on the tempo of the last movement.1st Movement – ​​Adagio SostenutoThe 1st Movement is the most popular of all the movements in the composition, and is the one that people are most familiar with. Overall, the tone is quiet and somber, maintained from piano to pianissimo, with a few exceptions such as crescendos. It never goes beyond what is actually reserved for the passionate Beethoven. A quote from Hector Berlioz, who illustrated the impact of the first movement in one line; “It is one of those poems that human language cannot describe”. Beethoven's piano student, Carl Czerny, was also in favor, as were many listeners of Beethoven's time. However, this frustrated Beethoven who quoted to Czerny: “I have certainly written better things.” Throughout the movement, we have a relentless rhythmic ostinato with Beethoven's triplet pattern lingering unfailingly throughout the entire movement. This gives off a “rolling” effect; is visualized composing a thought over and over again. The triplet patterns within the first movement are looped arpeggios, as seen below. The melody in this movement is relatively transitory, and thus displays an atmosphere of "little fragments of bright rays shining through the pitch-black clouds of the lowest notes". '. One could say that the melody virtually shimmers. The first movement is in a bizarre variety of traditional sonata form; has the first subject, bars one to five, and a second subject, bars fifteen to twenty-three, within the exposition and the development section was suddenly short, bars twenty-three to forty-two, which is a another reason why it stops away from traditional sonatas. Previously, the development section takes the themes created by the exposition and occupies the interval turning them over, but not Beethoven. In comparison, this part is "almost like a short bridge". We have the recapitulation, in which the first theme (bars forty-two-forty-six) and the second theme (bars fifty-one-sixty) are recaptured, with the key of the second theme being played in a different key. Finally, we have the coda (final) from bar sixty to sixty-five, which concludes the movement. “Almost like a fantasy” was the feeling that Beethoven managed to achieve, and therefore it gave the feeling that it was all improvised. This meant that he decided to avoid many of the ordinary harmonic progressions common in the "rules" of traditional sonata form, providing freedom to the movement. Within the development section, there is a segment where the melody drops and the notes race up and down the keyboard. This has a really distinct improvisational feel, almost like a little cadence. 2nd Movement – ​​Allegretto Of the three movements, this is the one that people are commonly least familiar with. It's basically the average Minuet and trio, and quite ordinary in a way, albeit deliberately so. The first movement had a really strong flavor, so it was necessary to keep it clear to restore the equally strong flavor of the final movement. It's not normal because Beethoven wasn't able to do it; it is very deliberately insignificant. Anything additional would be. 2019].