Moonlight Sonata (5:25)

Sonata in C sharp minor, op. 27, no. 2
- First Movement (Adagio Sostenuto)

* Correction*
This is not the entire Piano Sonata No. 14 (“Moonlight Sonata”), but only the first of three movements. The second and third movements are Allegretto and Presto Agitato, respectively.

Beethoven’s 14th piano sonata, AKA “Moonlight Sonata,” was composed in the summer of 1801 in Hungary, on an estate belonging to the Brunswick family. The composition was published in 1802 and was dedicated to Beethoven’s pupil and passion, 17 years old Countess Giulietta Gucciardi.

The Sonata is one of the most popular piano sonatas from Beethoven’s creation. It is also named “The Moonlight Sonata” by poet Ludwig Rellstab who, in 1832, had this inspiration on a moon lit night on the banks of the Lucerna River. Some biographers make the connection between the unshared love the composer held for Giulietta Guicciardi and the sonorities of the first part. Even more so, this sonata was dedicated to Giulietta, the musical theme of the first part being borrowed from a German ballad as Wyzewa observed.
The piano sonata has three parts. The parts of the sonata give the impression of a whole first of all through the elaboration of themes and motifs. Consequently, the main musical theme of the first part becomes very elaborate in the second part, and the second motif of the main theme will be encountered in the first theme of part III.