The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi.
This piece is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano, and it was a popular favorite even in his own day. Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata in his early thirties, and did so after he had finished with some commissioned work; there is no evidence that he was commissioned to write this sonata.
Names
The first edition of the score is headed Sonata quasi una fantasia, a title this work shares with its companion piece, Op. 27, No. 1.Grove Music Online translates the Italian title as "sonata in the manner of a fantasy". Translated more literally, this is "sonata almost a fantasy".
The name "Moonlight Sonata" comes from remarks made by the German music critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab. In 1832, five years after Beethoven's death, Rellstab likened the effect of the first movement to that of moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne. Within ten years, the name "Moonlight Sonata" ("Mondscheinsonate" in German) was being used in German and English publications. Later in the nineteenth century, the sonata was universally known by that name.
Franz Schubert's Piano Sonata in A minor, D 784 (posthumously published as Op. 143), is one of Schubert's major compositions for the piano. Schubert composed the work in February 1823, perhaps as a response to his illness the year before. It was however not published until 1839, eleven years after his death. The D 784 sonata, Schubert's last to be in three movements, is seen by many to herald a new era in Schubert's output for the piano, and to be a profound and sometimes almost obsessively tragic work.
Structure
I. Allegro giusto
This movement, in the tonic key of A minor, employs a new, sparse piano texture not found in Schubert's previous works: indeed, over one-fifth of the movement is in bare octaves. Additionally, Schubert also offers a new method of temporal organization to the movement (its tempo and rhythm), and he very unusually does not use much modulation.
The first subject's half-note rhythm, with some dotted notes, is related to the first subject of the D 625 sonata. The "sigh motive" first encountered in bars 2 and 4, (with an accented first note), plays a very important role throughout the movement, both in its accentuation (on the downbeat) and its rhythm (abruptly breaking off on a short note). The proliferation of this motive means that rhythm is of key importance for a pianist to maintain coherence throughout the movement. Melodically, the first subject is based around the resolution of the dissonance D♯–E (♯–) and the falling third C–A. Bar 9 transfers this rhythm to the bass, and uses repeated plagal cadences (iv-i) to evoke the atmosphere of a funeral march. At b.26 the first subject returns, now in fortissimo and being followed by parallel chords in dotted rhythms suggesting the French overture – but still ending abruptly on an eighth note on a weak beat.
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K. 457, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed and completed in 1784, with the official date of completion recorded as October 14, 1784 in Mozart’s private catalogue of works. It was published in December of 1785 together with the Fantasy in C minor, K. 475, as Opus 11 by the publishing firm Artaria, Mozart’s main Viennese publisher.
The title page bore a dedication to Thérèse von Trattner, who was one of Mozart’s pupils in Vienna. Her husband was an important publisher as well as Mozart’s former landlord. Eventually, the Trattners would become godparents to four of Mozart’s children.
The sonata was composed during the approximately 10-year period of Mozart’s life as a freelance artist in Vienna after he removed himself from the patronage of the Archbishop of Salzburg in 1781. It is one of the earliest of only six sonatas composed during the Vienna years, and was probably written either as a teaching tool or for personal use. Sonatas during this time were generally written for the domestic sphere - as opposed to a symphony or concerto, they were designed to convey ideas in a small, intimate setting.
Beethoven composed his PianoSonata No ... The 'middle period' of Beethoven's career also saw him compose piano works like the Waldstein and Apassionata sonatas, as well as his only opera, Fidelio, which went through countless rewrites and revisions.
Beethoven composed his PianoSonata No ... The 'middle period' of Beethoven's career also saw him compose piano works like the Waldstein and Apassionata sonatas, as well as his only opera, Fidelio, which went through countless rewrites and revisions.
A high point of the festival will be on August 2 when the audience will be treated to a special recital by internationally acclaimed and esteemed pianist Yefim Bronfman, performing BeethovenSonata No ... 14, and Chopin Sonata no.
