Beethoven | Piano Sonata no. 14 in C# minor, op. 27 no. 2 "Moonlight" Third movement | Dan Alexander

By far the most famous of Beethoven's piano sonatas, the "Moonlight" is the only one that has become a household name even among non-musicians. It isn't hard to see why - along with No. 8, the "Pathetique," and No. 21, the "Waldstein," the 14th sonata features some of Beethoven's most immediately appealing material. It was dedicated to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, who in 1801 was one of Beethoven's piano students and love interests.

The title "Moonlight" has generated some considerable controversy since 1832, roughly 30 years after the sonata's publication and five years after the composer's death. It was a German music critic named Ludwig Rellstab who wrote that the first movement of the fourteenth reminded him of the reflection of moonlight in Lake Lucerne, giving the sonata its resulting nickname. Some critics and musicians have met this name with surprisingly lasting and vehement backlash over the years. But why?

One reason may be that although the title "Moonlight" does not originate from the composer (as almost none of his works' nicknames do), Beethoven actually did give this sonata a different, specific heading: Sonata quasi una fantasia. To reinforce the feeling of a single-movement fantasia, Beethoven adds the instruction attacca to the ends of the first and second movements, meaning that the performer should proceed to the next movement without pause - the 1801 equivalent of a seamlessly tracked concept album.

Another reason for the backlash might be that everybody seems to interpret the first movement differently. Various listeners have described it as dreamy, romantic, ghostly, or funereal. Although I personally imagine an undersea voyage for the first movement, I find Rellstab's title appropriate enough. With a stretch of the imagination, one could even apply the word "Moonlight" to all three movements - a tranquil lake for the first, a lively nighttime soiree for the second, a werewolf chase for the third?


If Beethoven had intended for the fourteenth sonata to be a serenade to the young Countess Guicciardi, it was a curious choice to conclude it with the fearsome outpouring of wrath that is the third movement. Vastly more technically demanding than the preceding two movements, Moonlight's final act features galloping arpeggios, churning alberti bass sequences, heavy staccato 'riffing', and some very catchy and memorable melodic writing.

With its enormous sound, power and aggression, the third movement has a long history of captivating other artists - Chopin based his own Fantaisie-Impromptu on it, though Chopin's own originality keeps the inspiration from being too obvious (I've always thought the beginning of his op. 20 Scherzo in B minor bore a stronger resemblance). In the modern era, its popularity continues outside of the classical world especially with metal musicians, as a translation to that genre seems natural given the feeling of the piece. Covers in this genre vary widely in their degree of success.

For all its dramatic heights, the last movement stays conservative in terms of form, being in straightforward sonata form throughout (that is: exposition of themes, repeat, development, recapitulation). Its explosive coda brings the sonata to a fitting climax.