Description of sonata 14. "Moonlight Sonata". History of creation. Modern perception of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata

Part one: Adagio sostenuto

Part two: Allegretto

Part three: Presto agitato

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, op. 27, No. 2 (Quasi fantasia, better known as “Lunar”)- a piece of music written by the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven in 1801. He called the first movement of the sonata (Adagio sostenuto) “lunar” musical critic Ludwig Relstab in 1832, after the author’s death, he compared this work to “moonlight over Lake Firwaldstätt.”

The sonata is dedicated to 18-year-old Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom Beethoven gave music lessons in 1801. The composer was in love with the young countess and wanted to marry her.

The change that has taken place in me now is caused by a sweet, wonderful girl who loves me and is loved by me.

In March 1802, Sonata No. 14 - with a dedication to Juliet - was published in Bonn, although from the first months of 1802 Juliet showed a clear preference for the composer Wenzel Galenberg and eventually married him. Six months after writing the sonata, on October 6, 1802, Beethoven wrote the “Heiligenstadt Testament” in despair. Some Beethoven scholars believe that it was to Countess Guicciardi that the composer addressed a letter known as the letter “to the immortal beloved.” It was discovered after Beethoven's death in a hidden drawer in his wardrobe. Beethoven kept a miniature portrait of Juliet along with this letter and the Heiligenstadt Testament. The melancholy of unrequited love, the agony of hearing loss - all this was expressed by the composer in the “Moon” sonata.

The illusion did not last long, and already in the sonata one can see more suffering and anger than love.

The monument of love that he wanted to create with this sonata very naturally turned into a mausoleum. For a person like Beethoven, love could not be anything other than hope beyond the grave and sorrow, spiritual mourning here on earth.

Analysis

Both sonatas of opus 27 (Nos. and 14) have the subtitle “in the spirit of fantasy” (Italian: quasi una fantasia): Beethoven wanted to emphasize that the form of the sonatas differs from the composition of the classical sonata cycle adopted at the time of the creation of this sonata.

The sonata consists of three movements:

1. Adagio|Adagio sostenuto. The sonata begins with what in a classical sonata cycle is usually the middle part of a sonata cycle - slow, gloomy, rather mournful music. The famous music critic Alexander Serov finds an expression of “deadly despondency” in the first part of the sonata. In his methodical analysis and edition of the sonata, Professor A. B. Goldenweiser identified three key elements important for the analysis and performing interpretation of the movement:

• General choral plan of texture, determined by the movement of bass octaves, which also includes:
• The harmonic triplet figuration, covering almost the entire movement, is a relatively rare example in Beethoven of a monotonous rhythmic movement sustained throughout the entire composition, more typical of J. S. Bach’s preludes
• A mournful, sedentary melodic voice, rhythmically almost coinciding with the bass line.

In sum, these three elements form a harmonious whole, but at the same time they function separately, forming a continuous living declamatory line, and not “playing along” only with their part to the leading voice.

2. Allegretto - the second movement of the sonata.

For insufficiently sensitive students, the “consoling” mood of the second movement easily turns into an entertaining scherzando, which is fundamentally contrary to the meaning of the work. I have heard this interpretation dozens, if not hundreds of times. In such cases, I usually remind the student of Liszt’s catchphrase about this allegretto: “This is a flower between two abysses,” and I try to prove to him that this allegory is not accidental, that it surprisingly accurately conveys not only the spirit, but also the form of the composition, for the first bars the melodies resemble the involuntarily opening cup of a flower, and the subsequent ones resemble leaves hanging on the stem. Please remember that I never “illustrate” music, that is, in in this case I'm not saying that this music is a flower - I'm saying that it can evoke a spiritual, visual impression of a flower, symbolize it, suggest to the imagination the image of a flower.

I forget to say that this sonata also contains a scherzo. One cannot help but wonder how this scherzo, which has nothing to do with either the previous or the subsequent one, got mixed up here. “It is a flower between two abysses,” said Leaf. Perhaps! But such a place, I believe, is not very impressive for a flower, so from this side Mr. Liszt’s metaphor may not be entirely wrong.

Alexander Serov

3. Presto agitato - third movement of the sonata.

A sudden adagio... piano... The man, driven to the extreme, falls silent, his breathing stops. And when, after a minute, breathing comes to life and the person rises, the futile efforts, sobs, and riots are over. Everything has been said, the soul is devastated. In the last bars, only majestic power remains, conquering, taming, accepting the flow.

Romain Rolland

Some interpretations

• Wilhelm Kempff, YouTube video ;

Ludwig van Beethoven. Moonlight Sonata. Sonata of love or...

Sonata cis-moll(Op. 27 No. 2) - one of the most popular piano sonatas Beethoven; perhaps the most famous piano sonata in the world and the favorite work for home music playing. For more than two centuries it has been taught, played, softened, tamed - just as in all centuries people have tried to soften and tame death.

Boat on the waves

The name “Lunar” does not belong to Beethoven - it was introduced into circulation after the composer’s death by Heinrich Friedrich Ludwig Relstab (1799–1860), a German music critic, poet and librettist, who left a number of notes in the master’s conversation notebooks. Relshtab compared the images of the first movement of the sonata to the movement of a boat sailing under the moon along Lake Vierwaldstedt in Switzerland.

Ludwig van Beethoven. Portrait painted in the second half of the 19th century

Ludwig Relstab
(1799 - 1860)
German novelist, playwright and music critic

K. Friedrich. Monastery cemetery in the snow (1819)
National Gallery, Berlin

Switzerland. Lake Vierwaldstedt

U different works Beethoven has many names that are understood, as a rule, only in one country. But the adjective “lunar” in relation to this sonata has become international. The lightweight salon title touched the depths of the image from which the music grew. Beethoven himself, who tended to give parts of his works somewhat heavy-handed definitions Italian, called his two sonatas - op. 27 No. 1 and 2 - quasi una fantasia- “something like a fantasy.”

Legend

Romantic tradition connects the emergence of the sonata with the composer’s next love interest - his student, young Giulietta Guicciardi (1784–1856), cousin of Teresa and Josephine Brunswick, two sisters with whom the composer was in turn attracted to different periods of his life (Beethoven, like Mozart, had a tendency to fall in love with entire families).

Juliet Guicciardi

Teresa Brunswick. Beethoven's faithful friend and student

Dorothea Ertman
German pianist, one of the best performers of Beethoven's works
Ertman was famous for her performances of Beethoven's works. The composer dedicated Sonata No. 28 to her

The romantic legend includes four points: Beethoven's passion, playing a sonata under the moon, a marriage proposal rejected by heartless parents due to class prejudices, and, finally, the marriage of a frivolous Viennese, who preferred a rich young aristocrat to the great composer.

Alas, there is nothing to confirm that Beethoven ever proposed to his student (as he, with a high degree of probability, later proposed to Teresa Malfatti, the cousin of his attending physician). There is not even evidence that Beethoven was seriously in love with Juliet. He didn’t tell anyone about his feelings (just as he didn’t talk about his other loves). A portrait of Giulietta Guicciardi was found after the composer's death in a locked box along with others valuable documents- but... in the secret drawer there were several portraits of women.

And finally married Count Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg, an elderly ballet composer and archivist musical theater, Juliet was released only a couple of years after the creation of the op. 27 No. 2 - in 1803.

Whether the girl with whom Beethoven was once infatuated was happy in marriage is another question. Before his death, the deaf composer wrote down in one of his conversation notebooks that some time ago Juliet wanted to meet him, she even “cried,” but he refused her.

Caspar David Friedrich. Woman and sunset (Sunset, sunrise, woman in the morning sun)

Beethoven did not push away the women with whom he was once in love, he even wrote to them...

The first page of a letter to the “immortal beloved”

Perhaps in 1801, the hot-tempered composer quarreled with his student over some trifle (as happened, for example, with the violinist Bridgetower, the performer of the Kreutzer Sonata), and even many years later he was ashamed to remember it.

Secrets of the heart

If Beethoven suffered in 1801, it was not at all from unhappy love. At this time, he first told his friends that he had been struggling with impending deafness for three years. On June 1, 1801, his friend, violinist and theologian Karl Amenda (1771–1836) received a desperate letter. (5) , to whom Beethoven dedicated his beautiful string Quartet op. 18 F major. On June 29, Beethoven informed another friend, Franz Gerhard Wegeler, about his illness: “For two years now I have almost avoided any society, since I cannot tell people: “I am deaf!”

Church in the village of Geiligenstadt

In 1802, in Heiligenstadt (a resort suburb of Vienna), he wrote his stunning will: “O you people who consider or declare me embittered, stubborn or a misanthrope, how unfair you are to me” - this is how this famous document begins.

The image of the “Moonlight” sonata grew through heavy thoughts and sad thoughts.

The moon in the romantic poetry of Beethoven's time is an ominous, gloomy luminary. Only decades later, her image in salon poetry acquired elegance and began to “brighten.” The epithet “lunar” in relation to piece of music late XVIII – early XIX V. can mean irrationality, cruelty and gloom.

No matter how beautiful the legend of unhappy love is, it is difficult to believe that Beethoven could dedicate such a sonata to his beloved girl.

For the “Moonlight” sonata is a sonata about death.

Key

The key to the mysterious triplets of the “Moonlight” sonata, which open the first movement, was discovered by Theodor Visev and Georges de Saint-Foy in their famous work on Mozart’s music. These triplets, which today any child admitted to his parents' piano enthusiastically tries to play, go back to immortal image created by Mozart in his opera Don Giovanni (1787). Mozart's masterpiece, which Beethoven resented and admired, begins with a senseless murder in the dark of night. In the silence that followed the explosion in the orchestra, three voices emerge one after another on quiet and deep string triplets: the trembling voice of the dying man, the intermittent voice of his killer and the muttering of the numb servant.

With this detached triplet movement, Mozart created the effect of life flowing away, floating away into the darkness, when the body is already numb, and the measured sway of Lethe carries away the fading consciousness on its waves.

In Mozart, the monotonous accompaniment of the strings is superimposed with a chromatic mournful melody in the wind instruments and singing - albeit intermittently - male voices.

In Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, what should have been an accompaniment drowned out and dissolved the melody - the voice of individuality. The upper voice floating above them (the coherence of which is sometimes the main difficulty for the performer) is almost no longer a melody. This is the illusion of a melody that you can grab onto as your last hope.

On the verge of goodbye

In the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata, Beethoven transposes Mozart's death triplets, which had sunk into his memory, a semitone lower - into a more reverent and romantic C sharp minor. This will be an important key for him - in it he will write his last and great quartet cis-moll.

The endless triads of the “Moonlight” Sonata, flowing into one another, have neither end nor beginning. Beethoven reproduced with amazing accuracy that feeling of melancholy that is evoked by the endless play of scales and triads behind the wall - sounds that, with their endless repetition, can take away the music from a person. But Beethoven raises all this boring nonsense to a generalization of the cosmic order. Before us is musical fabric in its purest form.

By the beginning of the twentieth century. and other arts approached the level of this discovery of Beethoven: thus, artists made pure color the hero of their canvases.

What the composer does in his work of 1801 is strikingly consonant with the search of the late Beethoven, with his last sonatas, in which, according to Thomas Mann, “the sonata itself as a genre ends, comes to an end: it has fulfilled its purpose, achieved its goal , there is no further path, and she dissolves, overcomes herself as a form, says goodbye to the world.”

“Death is nothing,” Beethoven himself said, “you live only in the most beautiful moments. What is genuine, what really exists in a person, what is inherent in him, is eternal. What is transitory is worthless. Life acquires beauty and significance only thanks to fantasy, this flower, which only there, in the sky-high heights, blooms magnificently...”

The second movement of the “Moon” Sonata, which Franz Liszt called “a fragrant flower that grew between two abysses - the abyss of sadness and the abyss of despair,” is a flirtatious allegretto, similar to a light interlude. The third part is about the composer’s contemporaries, accustomed to thinking in images romantic painting, compared to a night storm on the lake. Four waves of sound rise up one after another, each ending with two sharp blows, as if the waves hit a rock.

Herself musical form rushes out, tries to break the framework of the old form, splash it over the edge - but retreats.

The time has not yet come.

Text: Svetlana Kirillova, Art magazine

Juliet Guicciardi... the woman whose portrait Ludwig van Beethoven kept along with the “Heiligenstadt Testament” and an unsent letter addressed to the “Immortal Beloved” (and it is possible that she was this mysterious beloved).

In 1800, Juliet was eighteen years old, and Beethoven gave lessons to the young aristocrat - but the communication of these two soon went beyond the boundaries of the relationship between teacher and student: “It became more pleasant for me to live... This change was brought about by the charm of one sweet girl,” the composer admits in a letter to friend, connecting with Juliet “the first happy moments over the past two years." In the summer of 1801, which Beethoven spends with Juliet on the estate of her relatives, the Brunswicks, he no longer doubts that we are loved, that happiness is possible - even the noble origin of his chosen one did not seem to him an insurmountable obstacle...

But the girl’s imagination was captured by Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg, an aristocratic composer, far from the most significant figure in the music of his era, but the young Countess Guicciardi considered him a genius, which she did not fail to inform her teacher about. This infuriated Beethoven, and soon Juliet informed him in a letter of her decision to leave “from a genius who has already won, to a genius who is still struggling for recognition”... Juliet’s marriage to Gallenberg was not particularly happy, and she met Beethoven again in 1821 – Juliet turned to ex-lover asking for... financial assistance. “She pestered me in tears, but I despised her,” is how Beethoven described this meeting, however, he kept the portrait of this woman... But all this will happen later, and then the composer was hard pressed by this blow of fate. Love for Juliet Guicciardi did not make him happy, but gave the world one of the most beautiful works Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor.

The sonata is known under the title “Moonlight”. The composer himself did not give it such a name - it was assigned to the work with light hand German writer and music critic Ludwig Relstab, who saw “moonlight over Lake Firwaldstätt” in the first part. Paradoxically, this name stuck, although it met with many objections - in particular, Anton Rubinstein argued that the tragedy of the first part and the stormy feelings of the finale do not at all correspond to the melancholicity and “gentle light” of the moonlit night landscape.

Sonata No. 14 was published in 1802 along with. Both works were defined by the author as "Sonata quasi una Fantasia". This implied a departure from the traditional, established structure of the sonata cycle, built on the principle of contrast “fast – slow – fast”. The fourteenth sonata develops linearly - from slow to fast.

The first movement - Adagio sostenuto - is written in a form that combines the features of two-part and sonata. The main theme seems extremely simple when viewed in isolation - but the insistent repetition of the fifth tone gives it exceptional emotional intensity. This feeling is intensified by the triplet figuration, against which the entire first movement passes - like a persistent thought. The rhythm of the bass voice almost coincides with the melodic line, thereby strengthening it and giving it significance. These elements develop in a change of harmonic coloring, a comparison of registers, representing a whole range of feelings: sadness, a bright dream, determination, “deadly despondency” - in the apt expression of Alexander Serov.

Musical Seasons

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Great work of genius German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight Sonata).

Beethoven's Sonata, written in 1801, originally had a rather prosaic title - Piano Sonata No. 14. But in 1832, the German music critic Ludwig Rellstab compared the sonata to the Moon shining over Lake Lucerne. So this composition received the now widely known name - “Moonlight Sonata”. The composer himself was no longer alive by that time...

In the very late XVIII century, Beethoven was in the prime of his life, he was incredibly popular, led an active social life, he could rightfully be called the idol of the youth of that time. But one circumstance began to darken the composer’s life - his gradually fading hearing.

Suffering from illness, Beethoven stopped going out and became practically a recluse. He was overcome by physical torment: constant incurable tinnitus. In addition, the composer also experienced mental anguish due to his approaching deafness: “What will happen to me?” - he wrote to his friend.

In 1800, Beethoven met the Guicciardi aristocrats who came from Italy to Vienna. The daughter of a respectable family, sixteen-year-old Juliet, struck the composer at first sight. Soon Beethoven began giving the girl piano lessons, completely free of charge. Juliet had good musical abilities and grasped all his advice on the fly. She was pretty, young, sociable and flirtatious with her 30-year-old teacher.

Beethoven fell in love, sincerely, with all the passion of his nature. He fell in love for the first time, and his soul was full of pure joy and bright hope. He's not young! But she, it seemed to him, was perfection, and could become for him a consolation in illness, joy in everyday life and a muse in creativity. Beethoven is seriously considering marrying Juliet, because she is nice to him and encourages his feelings.

True, the composer increasingly feels helpless due to progressive hearing loss, his financial situation is unstable, he does not have a title or “blue blood” (his father is a court musician, and his mother is the daughter of a court chef), and yet Juliet is an aristocrat ! In addition, his beloved begins to give preference to Count Gallenberg.

The composer conveys the whole storm of human emotions that was in his soul at that time in the “Moonlight Sonata”. This is grief, doubt, jealousy, doom, passion, hope, longing, tenderness and, of course, love.

The strength of the feelings that he experienced during the creation of the masterpiece is shown by the events that occurred after it was written. Juliet, forgetting about Beethoven, agreed to become the wife of Count Gallenberg, who was also a mediocre composer. And, apparently deciding to play at being an adult temptress, she finally sent Beethoven a letter in which she said: “I am leaving one genius for another.” It was a brutal “double whammy” – as a man and as a musician.

The composer, in search of loneliness, torn by the feelings of a rejected lover, went to the estate of his friend Maria Erdedi. For three days and three nights he wandered through the forest. When he was found in a remote thicket, exhausted from hunger, he could not even speak...

Beethoven wrote the sonata in 1800-1801, calling it quasi una Fantasia - that is, “in the spirit of fantasy.” Its first edition dates back to 1802 and is dedicated to Giulietta Guicciardi. At first it was just Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, which consisted of three movements - Adagio, Allegro and Finale. In 1832, the German poet Ludwig Relstab compared the first part to a walk on a moon-silvered lake. Years will pass, and the first measured part of the work will become a hit of all times. And, probably for the sake of convenience, “Adagio Sonata No. 14 quasi una Fantasia” will be replaced by the majority of the population simply with “Moonlight Sonata”.

Six months after writing the sonata, on October 6, 1802, Beethoven wrote the “Heiligenstadt Testament” in despair. Some Beethoven scholars believe that it was to Countess Guicciardi that the composer addressed a letter known as the letter “to the immortal beloved.” It was discovered after Beethoven's death in a hidden drawer in his wardrobe. Beethoven kept a miniature portrait of Juliet along with this letter and the Heiligenstadt Testament. Yearning unrequited love, the agony of hearing loss - all this was expressed by the composer in the “Moonlight” Sonata.

This is how a great work was born: in the throes of love, tossing, ecstasy and devastation. But it was probably worth it. Beethoven later experienced bright feeling to another woman. And Juliet, by the way, according to one version, later realized the inaccuracy of her calculations. And, realizing Beethoven’s genius, she came to him and begged him for forgiveness. However, he has not forgiven her...

"Moonlight Sonata" performed by Stephen Sharp Nelson on electric cello.

Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major, op. 14 No. 2 was written by Beethoven in 1798 and published along with the Ninth Sonata. Just like the Ninth, it is dedicated to Baroness Josepha von Braun. The sonata has three movements: Allegro Andante Scherzo ... Wikipedia

Piano Sonata No. 11 in B flat major, op. 22, was written by Beethoven in 1799-1800 and dedicated to Count von Braun. The sonata has four movements: Allegro con brio Adagio con molt espressione Menuetto Rondo. Allegretto Links Sheet music... ...Wikipedia

Piano Sonata No. 12 in A flat major, op. 26, was written by Beethoven in 1800-1801 and first published in 1802. It is dedicated to Prince Karl von Lichnowsky. The sonata has four movements: Andante con variazioni Scherzo, ... ... Wikipedia

Piano Sonata No. 13 in E flat major, Sonata quasi una Fantasia, op. 27 No. 1, was written by Beethoven in 1800-1801 and dedicated to Princess Josephine von Lichtenstein. The sonata has three movements: Andante Allegro Allegro molto e vivace ... Wikipedia

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Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major, op. 31 No. 1, was written by Beethoven in 1801-1802, together with Sonata No. 17, and dedicated to Princess von Braun. The sonata has three movements Allegro vivace Adagio grazioso Rondo. Allegretto presto... ... Wikipedia

Piano Sonata No. 18 in E flat major, op. 31 No. 3 was written by Beethoven in 1802, together with sonatas No. 16 and No. 17. This is the last Beethoven sonata in which a minuet was used as one of the movements, and in general ... ... Wikipedia

Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, op. 49 No. 1 composition by Ludwig van Beethoven, presumably written in the mid-1790s. and published in 1805 together with Sonata No. 20 under common name“Easy Sonatas”... ...Wikipedia

Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, op. 2 No. 1, was written by Beethoven in 1794-1795, together with sonatas No. 2 and No. 3, and dedicated to Joseph Haydn. The sonata has four movements: Allegro Adagio Menuetto: Allegretto Prestissimo... ... Wikipedia

Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major, op. 49 No. 2 composition by Ludwig van Beethoven, presumably written in the mid-1790s. and published in 1805 together with Sonata No. 19 under the general title “Easy Sonatas” ... ... Wikipedia

Books

• Moonlight Sonata, Mikhail Shuvaev. At the lunar station during scientific conference A famous astrophysicist dies tragically. Everyone believes that there was an accident. However, Richard Snow comes to the conclusion that death...
• Moonlight Sonata, Mikhail Shuvaev. From the publisher: A famous astrophysicist tragically dies on the lunar station during a scientific conference. Everyone thinks it was an accident...