II & III - Pianist: Glenn Gould
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- Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 - Glenn Gould and Karajan
- Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 21 "Waldstein"
- Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 8 "Pathetique"
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven, popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata (Mondscheinsonate in German), was completed in 1801. It was dedicated in 1802 to his pupil, the then 20-year-old Countess Julie Guicciardi, with whom Beethoven was, or had been, in love. It is one of Beethoven's most popular piano sonatas, as well as one of his most famous compositions for the piano.
The name "Moonlight" Sonata derives from an 1832 description of the first movement by music critic Ludwig Rellstab, who compared it to real moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne.
Beethoven included the phrase "Quasi una fantasia" (Italian: Almost a fantasy) in the title partly because the sonata does not follow the traditional movement arrangement of fast-slow-[fast]-fast. Instead, the Moonlight sonata possesses an end-weighted trajectory; with the rapid music held off until the third movement. To be sure, the deviation from traditional sonata form is intentional. In his analysis of the Moonlight sonata, German critic Paul Bekker states that “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.”
Form
The sonata consists of three movements:
1. Adagio sostenuto / 2. Allegretto / 3. Presto agitato
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Moonlight Sonata
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Moonlight Sonata
