Analysis Of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata

Introduction

Ludwig Van Beethoven was a Germany composer, pianist and the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. He was born in December 16, 1770 at Bonn, Germany. He was the eldest among his three surviving siblings of Johann van Beethoven and Maria Magdalena. When he was child, his father taught him to play piano non-stop for a few hours because his father always wanted him to become as good as Mozart. He performed his own concert when he was eight.

Beethoven has become a promising keyboard player and talented person in musical composition when he was twelve. Christian Gottlob Neefe was interested in Beethoven skills and make him as his student. Then, Beethoven move to Vienna, Austria to seek and learn from Mozart. He studied with Mozart only for a while and he was forced to return to Bonn because of his ailing mother. After that, in 1792 he went back to Vienna to continue his study about music composition from Joseph Haydn and Johann Schenk.

Beethoven began to lose his hearing during his early years in Vienna, and the condition become worse. In 1802, he nearly committed suicide due to his hearing impairments. He also retired from performing in public in 1815. In 1818, he avoided conversing with visitors that seek for him. They were forced to communicate with him through a letter.

Before his death in March 26, 1827 at Vienna, Austria, he made many great musical compositions to the new generation people after him. Among his notable works are Symphony No. 5 in C minor Op. 67, Symphony No. 7 in A major Op. 92 and Symphony No. 9 in D minor Op. 125.

In this essay, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano sonata No. 14 in C minor, “Quasi Una Fantasia”, Op. 27, no. 2, completed in 1801 which is also known as “Moonlight Sonata” will be discussed. Throughout this essay, the original piano name and its unofficial name, “Moonlight Sonata” will also be used interchangeably for convenience.

About Piano Sonata No. 14

The piano sonata is a classical music completed in 1801 and dedicated to one of his pupils, Countess Julie ‘Giulietta’ Guicciardi later in 1802. The sonata consists of three movements (parts), Adagio Sostenuto, Allegreto and Presto Agitato. In total, the music has the duration of approximately 15 minutes. The arpeggios (chord composing notes which are played in ascending or descending order) can be heard throughout the song, making it one of the most distinguishable features of the piece.

Beethoven called this piece “Sonata Quasi Una Fantasia” (Sonata in the manner of Fantasia) which implying the freedom of the sonata. Fantasia, also called fantasy or music, is a composition style that focus on the art of improvisation. The term dated back in the 16th century. The composer will create music spontaneously, often ignore the traditional form in music composing. Traditionally, a piano sonata will have a layout movement of ‘fast-slow-fast’ tempo whereas Moonlight Sonata’s tempo are ‘slow-slow-fast’. The Fantasia is also synonymous with Impromptu music.

The name “Moonlight Sonata” was not given by the artist himself. Rather, it was given by a German poet and critic named Ludwig Rellstab. Rellstab stated that the first movement of the sonata reminded him of reflected moonlight off the Switzerland Lucerne. Hence, giving it the nickname “Moonlight Sonata” which persists until present days, becoming the ‘official’ name of the sonata.

The work was not originally dedicated to Countess Giulietta or anyone. Rather, Beethoven never dedicated the work to anyone. According to Jones (1999), in a conversation between Otto Jahn and the countess herself in 1852, the countess stated that Beethoven dedicated her (Countess Giulietta) the Rondo in G, Op. 51, no. 2 but he asked her to return the piece because the artist needed something suitable for Prince Karl Lichnowsky’s sister Henriette. In exchange, Beethoven dedicated her the piano sonata No.14.

Three movements in Piano Sonata No.14:

First movement, Adagio Sostenuto

The most notable and memorable movement among the trio. A melancholic, slow movement, sometimes describe as ‘dreamy’. This movement is told to played pianissimo (very quietly). Beethoven stated that this movement should be played “with great delicacy and without dampers” (“Si deve suonare tutto pezzo delicatissimamente e senza sordino”). Dampers referred to the sustaining pedal on a piano.

Second movement, Allegreto

The second movement of Moonlight Sonata, Allegreto is a scherzo. It is played as joyous, upbeat part of the song. This movement is the shortest movement in the song.

Third movement, Presto Agitato

The longest movement among the trio. It is ‘stormy’ and powerful. The notes are many and quite ‘heavy’ in the third movement.

Inspiration

The inspirations in making of Moonlight Sonata are debatable. Experts have been discussed about this issue until now. Through reading and researching, we were able to conclude that there were two major notions on the issue. First notion is that Beethoven presumably made the song about his unfortunate love towards her pupil, Countess Julia ‘Giulietta’ Gucciardi. Although the song was originally not dedicated to her, Beethoven may compose the song about her. He proposed to Countess Giulietta which she was willing to accept. However, one of her parents, probably her father did not approve them. This is proven by Thayer (1992) as he stated:

…the opinion (an opinion, note, not a statement resting on competent evidence) that Beethoven at length decided to offer Countess Julia his hand; that she was not indisposed to accept it’ and that one of her parents consented to the match, but the other, probably the father, refused to entrust the happiness of his daughter to a man without rank, fortune or permanent engagement: a man, too, of character and temperament so peculiar, and afflicted with the incipient stages of an infirmity which, if not arrested and cured, must deprive him of all hope of obtaining any high and remunerative official appointment and at length compel him to abandon his career as the great pianoforte virtuoso. As the Guicciardis themselves were not wealthy, prudence forbade such a marriage.

The second notion is that Beethoven was inspired by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni (also known as Don Juan) opera. According to Roni (2007), the artist had copied the notes from the opera scene which Don Juan killed the Commendatore in his original manuscripts. Therefore, it is claimed that Beethoven intended to deliver solemn feeling rather than romantic.

Rationale as art

This essay will discuss the work (Piano sonata No. 14 in C minor, “Quasi Una Fantasia”, Op. 27, No. 2) as an art. There are two reasons to support its existence as an art which is the theory of expression and the theory of imitation.

Theory of expression

The theory of expression indicates that art is a physical manifestation of one’s inner thoughts such as experiences, emotions, understanding and others. Therefore, theory of expression stated that a work can be recognized as an art if the work is meaningful.

In the piano sonata, the emotions are expressed through the arrangement of its notes. Throughout the song, each movement expressed different emotions, from melancholic to tempestuous. The first movement is slow and delicate as audiences ‘hear’ the sadness and grief of the movement. After the first movement, the song took a great change as the more cheerful and light second movement played. The second movement give the audiences a jovial feeling. However, the joyous movement is short and the audiences are soon taken aback when the third movement is played. Powerful and turbulent emotions are present in the third movement. There are lot of emotions can be interpreted by the audience whilst the movement is played. Overall, the emotion portrayed in the sonata is quite erratic.

The emotions conveyed from these movements can be justified into both notions regarding his inspiration of the sonata. In the first notion, the heartbroken Beethoven’s sadness was manifested in the first movement of Moonlight Sonata. The slow and depressing melody shows the sorrow he experienced after the countess’s father rejected her. During this time, Beethoven also dealing with his deteriorating hearing. Therefore, his love towards the countess may be the one of the sources of happiness for him. Hence, he was devastated when he could not be together with her due to the rejection of the countess’s father. The joyful second movement can be interpreted with his reconciliation of his unfortunate love. The light-hearted melody gives off a relaxed emotion, as if there is nothing to worry about. Beethoven may willingly move on from the event, judging from the second movement. The third movement, tempestuous and powerful, indicates that he is fiercely confronting his future despite his disability after moving on from his lost love. He started to have hearing issues around 1801. Approximately in 1802, most of his songs, including the Moonlight Sonata (only the third movement), were loud and powerful so that he could hear the sound, people would claimed. The changing style and the third movement of Moonlight Sonata proves his determination in pursuing his music career, undeterred by his hearing disability.

Aristotle’s theory of imitation

According to De (2015), Aristotle defines his theory of imitation as “the objective representation of life in literature”. An artist’s work is an imaginative reconstruction of life. While this theory usually applied to poems, it is applicable to other art forms such as paintings and music. In this work, the sonata is an imitation of Mozart’s Don Giovanni opera.

The first movement can be translated as the terrible event occurring in the Mozart’s Don Giovanni opera. In the act, the main character, the masked Don Giovanni is attempting to seduce or rape Donna Anna, the Commandatore’s daughter. Donna Anna struggled with Don Giovanni until the Commandatore returned. A fight between Don Giovanni and Commandatore occurred which ended up with the death of Commandatore. His death may be portrayed in the melancholic melody of the first movement. In the second movement of the song, its joyful and happy melody can be referred to Don Giovanni’s successful escape after killing the Commandatore. This part of the opera, similar to Beethoven second movement, is short which can be aligned with Don Giovanni short-lived victory as he escaped from the place. The third movement can be interpreted as the agony and sorrow felt by both Donna Anna and her fiancé, Don Ottavio when they returned and saw the death of Donna Anna’s father. The powerful sound delivered by Moonlight Sonata can be referred to Don Ottavio’s raging anger as he vowed to take vengeance against Commandatore’s murderer.

Issues and problems

There were two issues addressed by Beethoven himself through his Moonlight Sonata which is war and unblessed love.

The first issue stem from the imitation of the death of Commandatore’s death in Mozart’s Don Giovanni opera. The Moonlight Sonata inspired by the opera, as it is a remainder to the event of World War II. The war had caused destruction which led to economy crisis. Hence, it created a serious poverty problem at Germany and Beethoven was one of the victims. The artist faced with a lot of hardships, from unrequited love to hearing impairment until his death. In short, the issue of war had been addressed by Beethoven through the piano sonata.

The second issue addressed by Moonlight Sonata is unblessed love. The Moonlight Sonata also tells the audience about Beethoven’s love with Countess Julia ‘Giulietta’ Gucciardi, his 16 years-old pupil. Beethoven’s proposal was harshly shot down by, presumably the countess’s father due as Beethoven is a man without rank and importantly, fortune. The countess soon married to one of Beethoven’s good friend, Count Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg (known as Count Gallenberg) who was wealthier than Beethoven. This may lead to the heartbroken Beethoven to compose the song.

Both issues may also correlate with each other. Therefore, the Moonlight Sonata depicts about the economy crisis after the Second World War which led to poverty problems. Hence, it forces one to choose between love and worldly needs such as wealth.

Conclusion

In conclusion, not only the aesthetics of Beethoven’s Piano sonata No. 14 in C minor, “Quasi Una Fantasia”, Op. 27, no. 2 (Moonlight Sonata) define the work as an art but also the context of the song played a role in defining the Moonlight Sonata as an art. The song told the artist’s personal turmoil while also raising the current issue faced by the people during the sonata’s making. Hence, the piano sonata able to withstand the changes of the ever-changing meaning of arts.

References:

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