14 in C-sharp minor (the Moonlight Sonata), even though Beethoven himself felt he'd written better (or at least more interesting) pieces: The story goes that Beethoven once complained to his fellow musician friend Carl Czerny that everyone loved the Piano Sonata No. Rellstab is reported to have referred to the sonata as "a boat visiting, by moonlight, the primitive landscapes of Vierwaldstättersee in Switzerland." And Giulietta Guicciardi, the dedicatee of the piece, herself debunked the rumor that she'd had an affair with Beethoven and the piece reminded him of her.īeethoven himself was surprised and not altogether pleased by the piece's popularity. The nickname "Moonlight Sonata" was not actually given to the piece by the composer instead, Russian music writer Wilhelm von Lenz reported that an 1830s German music critic and romantic poet named (Heinrich Friedrich) Ludwig Rellstab was the first to describe the piece as relating to moonlight. There's also a similarly romantic story about how Beethoven was having an affair with the student to whom the piece was dedicated.Īlas, neither of these colorful tales appear to have any factual basis. An apocryphal tale sprung up in the mid-19th century (after Beethoven's death) about how Beethoven met a blind girl playing the piano and was so moved by her and the moonlight streaming in the room that he was inspired to rush home and write down the piece. That Beethoven's hearing loss had already become apparent makes the apocryphal story about how the Moonlight Sonata got its name all the more poignant. In fact, the Heiligenstadt Testament (where Beethoven wrote of his realization and grappling with his hearing loss and its permanence) was written the following year in 1802. At this point in his life, Beethoven had not yet gone completely deaf, but his hearing had begun seriously deteriorating. The Moonlight Sonata was written in 1800-1801, while Beethoven was living in Vienna. The best one I've seen (in terms of good recording + good syncing of the score) is this video, which features pianist Artur Schnabel's seminal recording of the Moonlight Sonata:Ī Brief History of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata There are several videos out there that sync the score with a recording of the piece, so that you can follow along without having a separate copy of the score yourself. You can also always browse for other free scores if none of these versions takes your fancy. If you're curious, you can also take a look at the original handwritten manuscript sketches for the piece, which start at measure 14, or about 50-55 seconds in (depending on how fast you play it). If file size is an issue for you (for instance, if you have slow download speeds or a computer/device that can't handle high resolution PDFs), however, I'd recommend the smaller (1.69 MB) Breitkopf & Härtel score. The cleanest (free, public domain) version of the Moonlight Sonata piano score is this 4 MB, high quality scanned version of the Peters score it has high resolution images that can be printed onto different sized paper without issue and includes piano fingering suggestions. This means that it's possible to get free and legal versions of the piece online and print it out for yourself. Presto agitato)įirst movement (the recognizable one) length: about 5'20"-6' longīecause the Moonlight Sonata piano sheet music was first published in 1802 (and internationally published, at that), the piano score is in the public domain. 2Ĭomposer: Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)ĭate composed: 1800-1801 published in 1802, dedicated to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardiįull piece length: 14-15' long (depending on the tempi the performer takes), 3 movements (I. Formal Titles: Sonata quasi una Fantasia, Piano Sonata No.
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