Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven)

Lore & Background

Beethoven completed the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor in 1801 and dedicated it the following year to his pupil Countess Julie Guicciardi. The first edition bears the heading *Sonata quasi una fantasia*, indicating a sonata in the manner of a fantasy, which suggests a free, improvisatory character despite the sonata form. The famous nickname "Moonlight Sonata" was not Beethoven’s own; it arose after the poet Ludwig Rellstab, in an 1824 story, compared the first movement’s effect to moonlight shimmering on a lake, evoking an Aeolian harp and ghostly swans. By the late 1830s, the name appeared in German and English publications, and it became universal later in the nineteenth century. The work’s structure is unconventional for the Classical period: instead of the traditional fast–slow–fast arrangement, it is end-weighted, with rapid music withheld until the third movement. The first movement, marked *Adagio sostenuto*, is played very quietly throughout, opening with a left-hand octave and a right-hand triplet figuration, against which a lamenting melody emerges. Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny described this movement as a ghostly nocturnal scene, while Hector Berlioz called it a poem beyond human language. Franz Liszt characterized the second movement as a flower between two abysses. The sonata was highly popular even in Beethoven’s own day.

Reader's Guide

The sonata consists of three movements: I. Adagio sostenuto, in modified sonata-allegro form, played pianissimo throughout, with a melody Hector Berlioz called a 'lamentation'; II. Allegretto, a relatively conventional minuet in D♭ major, described by Franz Liszt as 'a flower between two abysses'; III. Presto agitato, the stormy final movement in sonata form, the weightiest of the three, placing the most important movement last. The first movement's tempo and quiet intensity made a powerful impression, with Beethoven's pupil Carl Czerny calling it 'a nocturnal scene, in which a mournful ghostly voice sounds from the distance.' The movement was so popular in Beethoven's day that he remarked to Czerny, 'Surely I've written better things.' Critics have debated the nickname: some object to its subjective, romantic nature, calling it misleading or absurd, while others find it evocative. Gramophone founder Compton Mackenzie deemed the title 'harmless,' noting that without public response to the moonlight suggestion, Rellstab's remark would have been forgotten.

Did You Know?

• The nickname 'Moonlight Sonata' was not given by Beethoven but by poet Ludwig Rellstab, who likened the first movement to moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne.
• Beethoven wrote the sonata around age 30 after finishing commissioned work; there is no evidence he was commissioned to write it.
• The first movement is played pianissimo throughout, with the loudest dynamic being piano.
• Franz Liszt described the second movement as 'a flower between two abysses.'