Sonata, Op 27, No 2 Sonata Quasi una Fantasia (Moonlight Sonata) by Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Solo - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.742469

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ 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.

The 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, after he had finished with some

commissioned work; there is no evidence that he was commissioned to write this sonata.

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".The

title could also be interpreted to imply "...as though improvised".

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.

Many critics have objected to the subjective, romantic nature of the title "Moonlight", which has at times been

called "a misleading approach to a movement with almost the character of a funeral march" and "absurd". Other

critics have approved of the sobriquet, finding it evocative or in line with their own interpretation of the work.

Gramophone founder Compton Mackenzie found the title "harmless", remarking that "it is silly for austere

critics to work themselves up into a state of almost hysterical rage with poor Rellstab", and adding, "what these

austere critics fail to grasp is that unless the general public had responded to the suggestion of moonlight in this

music Rellstab's remark would long ago have been forgotten."

Notes taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Sonata_No._14_(Beethoven)#cite_note-8