Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 First Movement for Orchestra (arr. by Phil Justin)
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.[b] The name Moonlight Sonata (German: Mondscheinsonate) grew popular later, likely after Beethoven's death.
The piece is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano, and it was a popular favourite even in his own day.[1] Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata in his early thirties, after he had finished with some commissioned work; there is no evidence that he was commissioned to write this sonata.
The first movement,[c] in C♯ minor and alla breve, is written in modified sonata-allegro form.[24] Donald Francis Tovey warned players of this movement to avoid "taking [it] on a quaver standard like a slow 128".[19]
The movement opens with an octave in the left hand and a triplet figuration in the right. A melody that Hector Berlioz called a "lamentation",[citation needed] mostly by the left hand, is played against an accompanying ostinato triplet rhythm, simultaneously played by the right hand. The movement is played pianissimo (pp) or "very quietly", and the loudest it gets is piano (p) or "quietly".
The adagio sostenuto tempo has made a powerful impression on many listeners; for instance, Berlioz commented that it "is one of those poems that human language does not know how to qualify".[25] Beethoven's student Carl Czerny called it "a nocturnal scene, in which a mournful ghostly voice sounds from the distance".[1] The movement was very popular in Beethoven's day, to the point of exasperating the composer himself, who remarked to Czerny, "Surely I've written better things".[26][27]
In his book Beethoven's pianoforte sonatas,[28] the renowned pianist Edwin Fischer suggests that this movement of this sonata is based on Mozart's "Ah Soccorso! Son Tradito" of his opera Don Giovanni, which comes just after the Commendatore’s murder. He claims to have found, in the archives of the Wiener Musikverein, a sketch in Beethoven's handwriting of a few lines of Mozart's music (which bears the same characteristic triplet figuration) transposed to C♯ minor, the key of the sonata. "In any case, there is no romantic moon-light in this movement: it is rather a solemn dirge", writes Fischer.
Arranged and produced by Phil Justin. Scored in Sibelius 8 and NotePerformer 4. Mastered in Adobe Audition.
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