Moonlit Musings on Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
The Backstory
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ("Moonlight")
I'm Beethoven, and I'd like to tell you the backstory of my Moonlight Sonata. You'll find out that I never gave it that name, and that a poet's picture of a boat on Lake Lucerne is what made it stick. When you're ready, head over to the Trainer , because my fellow composers and I teach you on this site to recognize our pieces as soon as they start playing.
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A Name I Never Chose
I never called this piece 'Moonlight', and the name isn't on the original publication. It came later from the poet and critic Ludwig Rellstab, who compared the first movement to a boat drifting on Lake Lucerne by moonlight. So I didn't write it by moonlight, and the picture of me bent over the keys under the night sky is mostly a story people like to tell. It is a lovely image all the same, and it stuck so well that most people now know the Moonlight Sonata by no other name.Vienna, and a Problem With My Ears
I had moved from Bonn to Vienna in November 1792, and I was still living there when this sonata took shape. Around 1798 my hearing had begun to fail, and it was already getting worse while I wrote this piece. For a musician that is about the most unwelcome news imaginable, a bit like a painter being told the colors will slowly fade. I won't claim the sonata is about my ears, but I find it hard to forget that I wrote it with that worry in the background.One of a Pair
This sonata is Op. 27 No. 2, and it has a sibling, because both pieces carry the words 'Sonata quasi una fantasia' on their pages. The first of the pair is in E flat major and is dedicated to Josephine, Princess of Liechtenstein, so the famous one was never an only child. I worked on the two of them from spring to autumn 1801, although some sources put this one in 1802, so even the scholars treat the exact year as a small puzzle. In the catalogue it is Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, written for solo piano, with no orchestra anywhere in the room.A Pupil Named Giulietta
I met Julie Guicciardi, also known as Giulietta, in 1800, and I gave her piano lessons. When the sonata was published, I dedicated it to her. People have long assumed that the music is a love letter to her, but nobody can show that it is, and I'd rather you listen without a ready-made romance. A dedication is a nice gesture, but it doesn't tell you what was going on in a composer's heart while he wrote.A Letter to Wegeler
In November 1801 I wrote to Franz Gerhard Wegeler about 'a dear, magical girl' who loved me, and that girl was Giulietta. That letter shows I was happy at the time, which may surprise anyone who is sure the sonata must be pure heartbreak. The happiness didn't last, because her marriage to Count Robert Gallenberg ended the relationship by 1803. So the sonata sits between a hopeful moment and a disappointing ending, and I'll leave it to you to decide how much of that you hear.Three Courses, No Waiting Around
The sonata has three movements, and if that word is new to you, think of them as the courses of a dinner: each one is complete on its own, but they are meant to be enjoyed in order. The first is the Adagio sostenuto in C sharp minor, a slow and hushed opening course that sets the mood for everything after it. Then comes the Allegretto in D flat major, a moderate, minuet-like movement with a Trio, which is a contrasting middle section before the opening returns. The meal ends with the Presto agitato, back in C sharp minor, fast and restless, with racing arpeggios and sharp accents, and it asks a great deal of stamina from the pianist.Fresh From the Printer, Slightly Unfinished
Giovanni Cappi published the sonata in Vienna in 1802, in March according to some sources and in August according to another. The first printing left the opus number to be added by hand, a bit like a form with one box left for you to fill in yourself. A separate title page was engraved later for the C sharp minor sonata, so it eventually got a proper introduction of its own. Even then, the word 'Moonlight' was nowhere to be found.The Letter I Never Sent
In October 1802, at Heiligenstadt, I wrote to my brothers about my deafness. I never sent that letter, which tells you how heavy the subject had become for me. The sonata had been published earlier that same year, so it was already out in the world when I put those private thoughts on paper. You can listen to it with that in mind if you like, but I wouldn't call the sonata a diary entry.Did I Really Say That?
The story goes that I once remarked that I had written better things than the first movement. It is credited to Czerny, but it isn't well documented, so I'd pass it along as a story and nothing more. If I did say it, the listening public clearly disagreed, because this became one of the pieces people love most. Composers are rarely the best judges of which of their works will be remembered, and I'm no exception.The Name Outlived Me
I died on 26 March 1827 in Vienna, and the sonata carried on without me. Somewhere along the way Rellstab's moonlit boat took over, and the name simply stuck. I find it a little funny that a piece I labeled with little more than a key, an opus number and a few tempo markings now travels the world under a poet's nickname. If you listen tonight, I hope you'll hear a quiet room, a slow rocking, and a very human story behind it.---
I hope you enjoyed learning about the backstory of Moonlight Sonata as much as I enjoyed telling it. It's a strange thing to look back on a piece that carries a name I never gave it, and to see how far that name has traveled. Still, I don't mind it much, because a good picture can lead people to the music, and the music is what I care about. There is a lot more to explore in this sonata. I called it a "Sonata quasi una fantasia", and that small phrase says a good deal about how freely I wanted it to unfold. There is also the question of how the three movements fit together, and what it feels like to move from the hush of the first to the storm of the last. And if you ever sit at a piano yourself, you'll find that the quiet opening asks for just as much care as the fast ending asks for stamina. If you'd like to go further, please click on the links provided. They'll take you deeper into the music, and I'd be glad to have you listen along. Next time you hear those slow, rocking triplets, I hope you'll hear them a little differently.