Analysis of the melody of Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig Van Beethoven

The melody is introduced in the fifth bar, and must give the idea of floating on the accompaniment. At the tenth bar there comes a change of harmony from the major into the minor key, and here the note G (the first G) in the right hand should be accentuated. Ex. No. 2, bar 10. Proceeding onwards to the last quarter of the fifteenth bar and leading to the sixteenth, the melody adopts a more insistent temper, which may be rendered by emphasizing the notes B and C of the melody in the right hand, especially the C.

In fact, this note C should be taken arpeggiato with the accompaniment underneath. It seems to me to represent a cry of unutterable heart-ache, a Read more

The first movement of the “Moonlight Sonata” by Ludwig Van Beethoven consists of a haunting and beautiful melody, full of romance and pathos floating on a continuous stream of undulating harmony. The interpretation of it should be of the highest imagination, glowing with a quiet radiance of fantasy and feeling. The tone employed must be warm and melting in quality, imparting at the same time the mysterious resignation and the vague unrest of the music’s atmosphere.

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The Sonata in C sharp minor was a great favorite from the moment of its publication, and Beethoven jokingly even pretended to be annoyed about it, as he considered many of his other sonatas to be finer works musically; but still the “Moonlight Sonata” remains a warm favorite.

Probably the fact, technically, the lovely slow movement with which it commences is well within the reach of very moderate performers on the pianoforte may help to account for its extreme popularity over its fellows, since so many amateurs are able to derive pleasure from their own rendering of it.

Beethoven wrote thirty-two sonatas in all, of which certainly nearly half are still as beloved and admired as ever they were, and continue to form an absolutely essential part of the repertoire ofevery pianist. He brought the sonata form to its highest perfection, and, having found the models of his predecessors too stilted and formal for the wider expression of his thoughts, he made innovations of what in those days were considered the most daring kind, and improved upon the forms he found. Read more

I HAVE chosen the first movement of the Sonata in C sharp minor of Ludwig Van Beethoven, commonly known as the “Moonlight Sonata,” as the subject of my specimen lesson, because it is so universally beloved by all sorts and conditions of people, and is so well known. It is, therefore, one which all students of the pianoforte must learn. I will first give a short history of the Sonata, as this should also be of special interest to students.

The Sonata in C sharp minor, which was entitled by Beethoven himself “Quasi una Fantasia,” was one of two sonatas written in the year 1801 and published in March, 1802, and forming together Opus 27.

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