The Piano Sonata No. Indeed, it is probably one of the most famous solo piano pieces ever composed — if not the most famous. Beethoven published the Moonlight Sonata in , a year that fell nearly on the cusp of the Romantic period. At the time, Beethoven was thirty-two years old and already suffering from hearing loss.
But at this stage in his life, his growing deafness did not hinder his daily functioning and was not yet known or noticeable to the public. In many ways, the Moonlight Sonata both adheres to the expectations of the Classical era and also features many less-conventional expressions that eventually characterized the Romantic era. A couple of years before he started working on the piece, he began teaching two sisters, Therese and Josephine Brunsvik.
The Overtures - Brief overview of some of the most important Beethoven overtures. Iulian Munteanu, Onesti, Romania. All Rights Reserved. Beethoven's Life Beethoven's Music. Beethoven Resources Free Sheet Music. All About Ludwig van Beethoven Information on Beethoven, his life, his music and classical sheet music.
Best 5 Beethoven Books on Amazon 1. Beethoven by Maynard Solomon 3. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Read more about Beethoven's Piano sonatas Sonata in F minor, op.
Sonata in D minor, op. Do not rush through the notes—if there's any piece that isn't a race to get to the finish, it's the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata. Here's a beautiful recording of Annie Fischer's slower, more sustained sostenuto! Just because the tempo is slow doesn't mean that you can meander all over the place with the notes and disregard the written rhythm. Part of the hypnotic lulling effect of the first movement is the steady triplets in the bass for the most part against a dotted eighth note-sixteenth note or dotted quaver-semiquaver rhythm in the right hand—the farther you stray away from this relationship, the less impact the piece will have on the listener.
Getting the correct notes and rhythms are an important part of learning any piece, but you shouldn't consider yourself "finished learning" the piece just because you've gotten the fundamentals down. Notes are important, but things like dynamics how loud or soft you play and articulation are the icing on the Moonlight Sonata cake. Because it's written for the piano, Moonlight Sonata has a restricted range of expressiveness simply because of the limitations of the instrument , but that doesn't meant that the expressiveness shouldn't be there.
S ubtle differences in how hard you press the keys and how much you let the sound decay can have a huge impact on the impact the piece has on the audience or the listener, if you're not performing formally. It's possible to learn the Moonlight Sonata by ear, from the sheet music, or using a combination of the two. If you already know how to read music, then that's probably the best option—learning the Moonlight Sonata from the score will get you closest to Beethoven's intent since playing it by ear necessitates having a middle man.
As with most pieces, the best way to learn the Moonlight Sonata is to learn it section by section and eventually put it together , rather than trying to play it through every time you practice. If you're learning the Moonlight Sonata by ear, learning it a little bit at a time is also a good idea. Yes, it will involve listening to the same 10 seconds of the piece over and over again, but once you get that pattern of arpeggiating triplets in the left hand against non-triplets in the right hand down, the rest of the movement will be easier.
If you know how to play the guitar or some other chordal instrument, you might find knowing the Moonlight Sonata tabs help you learn the specific note patterns better as well. It's possible to augment your learning of the Moonlight Sonata from the score with recordings of the piece and get the best of both learning by ear and learning by reading music worlds , but that method has its own issues.
Some performers don't like to listen to versions of a piece while they're working on it because they're afraid it'll affect their interpretation, but the ubiquity of the Moonlight Sonata in culture makes it difficult to avoid. Personally, I try to avoid listening to other interpretations of pieces when I'm learning it, but it can be helpful if you're struggling with what the notes sound like to listen to a MIDI version, like this one:.
What each performer finds tricky will change to some extent from person to person. For instance, the large distances between notes in the left-hand chords of the first movement will be harder for people with smaller hands, while the arpeggios may be more difficult for people with stiffness or arthritis in their fingers. As far as the Moonlight Sonata notes themselves go, I think the most difficult part of the first movement occurs during the development section mm.
What shenanigans are these, Beethoven? Pedaling, or controlling the sustain and decay of the notes, is also tricky for this piece. Beethoven notes at the beginning of the Moonlight Sonata,. This effect no doubt would've sounded eerie and beautiful on the pianofortes of , but the pianos today have longer sustains, which means that holding down the sustain pedal for the entirety of the piece will likely just result in a muddy sound.
For a more complete discussion of the different pedaling options commonly used in the Moonlight Sonata , check out the full guide here. Ultimately, it's up to the performer to interpret as she will what feels right and sounds right to her , just as it's up to the listeners to decide which Moonlight Sonata performance or recording sounds and feels the best for them. The most amazing part of this piano sonata is its dynamic changes throughout the whole music.
The emotion goes from quiet and sombre to strong and powerful. He composed this sonata in , when his deafness was getting serious. Beethoven was also madly in love with Giulietta whom he had hopes of getting married into.
The depressive state which was afflicting Beethoven at this time was well reflected in the sombre, funeral tone of the first movement, which has nothing to do with any romantic notions of moonlight. While I was playing this peice, I could feel that Beethoven was narrating his own story. March 8, at pm. Classical music is hands down some of the best study music i have in my library. You picked a nice song for this reflection, and i admire your taste.
March 7, at am. When I found out that he was ill with cancer, I headed out to the hospital to see him. Once I was in the;e hospital to be with him, this tune came out out of nowhere.
0コメント