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Sarah Strausser
English 101:11
21 October 2014
The Artwork of Beethovens Moonlight Sonata
The rest of the auditorium is dark except for the bright spotlight focused solely on
me. I feel the heat of the spotlight and over a thousand pairs of eyes almost burning
through my skin. The auditorium is completely silent except for the clicks of my high
heels on the wooden stage as I walk up to the piano bench. I sit down, wipe my sweaty,
shaky palms on my dress, and take a deep breath. As soon as my fingers touch the keys, I
no longer notice any of the audience or cameras focused on me. I am in my own world,
and notice only the sensation of my fingers gliding across the keys and my foot smoothly
controlling the damper pedal. I feel an indescribable sense of emotion as I pour my years
of practice and refinement into one final fifteen-minute performance. As I play the final
chord, I feel an overwhelming sense of emotion and have no doubt that my final
performance is a grand work of art.
Art consists of more than mere paintings and drawings. Art is an expression of
skill and imagination that produces works to be appreciated for their beauty and
emotional power (oxford dictionary). The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor Quasi
una Fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, or commonly known as Beethovens Moonlight Sonata, is
a powerful work of art that breaks some of the rules of classical music, defines the rules
for the Romantic Era, and allows each player to stylistically define their own
performance.

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Beethovens Moonlight Sonata breaks some of the rules of traditional classical

music, yet still remains an expression of skill and imagination that is appreciated for its
beauty and emotional power. Classical music fluctuates in mood and may change
gradually to express the emotions of the composer (Characteristics). Beethovens
Moonlight Sonata follows this rule, as the mood continually fluctuates throughout the
piece to express different types of emotions. Classical music is characteristically
balanced, symmetrical, and highly structured (Characteristics). Artists during the classical
period expressed their feelings through the use of many crescendos and diminuendos
(increase and decrease in the volume, respectively). Beethovens Moonlight Sonata
breaks these rules as the piece is much more flexible and conveys vastly different
emotions between the three movements. The Moonlight Sonata is very emotional and
contemplative, and therefore it is important to avoid abrupt dynamic changes unlike the
classical style (Classical Net).
The traditional sonata form consists of tempo changes to express different
emotions throughout the piece and the tempo progresses as fast, slow, fast, fast
(Characteristics). Beethoven breaks some of the rules of traditional classical music, yet
does so in a very skillful and imaginative manner. For example, Moonlight Sonata is
written in C# minor, a key that is very rarely used in classical music, and does not follow
standard sonata form. Instead, the tempo progresses from slow, to moderate, to extremely
fast (Green). While Beethoven breaks the rules of the classical era, the stylistic changes
and skills used in the Moonlight Sonata are very fitting to the emotions conveyed in the
piece. Despite straying from the rules of the classical era, Moonlight Sonata remains a

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work of art, as it is an expression of skill and imagination that is appreciated for its
emotional power.
Although Beethoven broke the rules of classical music, he pioneered the
Romantic Era by defining and following the newly created rules for the new musical time
period. By creating new works of art, Beethoven bridged the highly structured classical
era to the rule-breaking Romantic Era (ipl.org). The Romantic Era is stylistically defined
by interpretive freedom, long melodies, irregular phrases, frequent changes in tempo, and
passionate and the expression of intense emotion (Romantic Music). The first movement
of Moonlight Sonata, called adagio sostenuto, is played very quietly and expresses
somber emotion (Musicnotes). In fact, the first movement evokes so much emotion that
Hector Berlioz, a composer of the Romantic Period, stated that, The Adagio is one of
those poems that human language does not know how to qualify (Rosen). While difficult
to describe in words, the haunting sound of the triplet played by the right hand and the
bass octave played by the left hand is almost immediately recognizable to anyone who
has heard the piece before. The first movement is so vastly expressive and deviates so
greatly from any general sonata that German critic Paul Bekker stated, The opening
sonata-allegro movement gave the work a definite character from the beginning which
succeeding movements could supplement but not change. Beethoven rebelled against this
determinative quality in the first movement. He wanted a prelude, an introduction, not a
proposition (Princeton fix this citation).
The second movement, called allegretto, is the form of a scherzo, a comic
composition that is fast moving and used in the place of a minuet and trio, which was
popularized by Beethoven (Green). The second movement is written in D flat major, a

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light and playful key, as opposed to the first and third movements, which are written in
C# minor, a very somber key (Musicnotes). The key change from minor to major affects
the mood of the piece and expresses new feelings as a work of art. Key changes from a
minor key to a major key rarely occur in classical music. Beethoven broke this rule,
which led to common key changes in the Romantic style, thus allowing composers of the
period to express multiple emotions in one piece and add unique artistic flourishes.
The third movement, called presto agitato, is the heaviest of the three movements
and is defined by heavily accented notes and rapid progressions between phases (Green).
The third movement is played fortissimo (very loudly) as opposed to the first movement,
which is played pianissimo (very quietly). Beethoven defined the vast difference between
each movement through creative imagination and skill, thus rendering the Moonlight
Sonata as a great work of art. The third movement conveys such great emotion that
Charles Rosen, an accomplished American pianist, stated, it is the most unbridled in its
representation of emotion. Even today, two hundred years later, its ferocity is
astonishing (BBC).
Beethovens Moonlight Sonata is art because each performer who plays the piece
will add their imagination and skill to the performance. Just as each painter uses different
techniques to create artwork, each pianist also uses different techniques to create artwork.
No two performances are exactly the same, and each pianist can choose to break/bend the
rules of Beethovens Sonata to make it their own work of art.
Piano playing is undoubtedly a great expression of artwork to be appreciated for
its beauty and emotional power. David Lanz, a Grammy-nominated pianist, says of piano
playing, The piano is a divinely inspired instrument, a mirror help up to a players soul

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that captures the light and shadow of the performer and reflects them back to the listener
(citation). In order to convey emotion, sometimes it is necessary to break the rules of the
piece. There is an indescribable sensation that a pianist feels when he or she becomes
emotionally involved in their performance. For example, each pianist may experience
different emotions and choose to emphasize different notes, tempos, and chords to
stylistically define the piece with their own imagination, skill, and emotion. Beethovens
Moonlight Sonata is just one example of artwork that expresses great skill and
imagination.

Works Cited

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"Art." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.

"Characteristics of Classical Music." - Fine Music 102.5. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
"Classical Net - Beethoven - Symphony #9." Classical Net. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
Green, Aaron. "Here's What You Need to Know About Beethoven's 'Moonlight
Sonata'" Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.
"Musicnotes.com." Musicnotes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
"Romantic Music." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
Rosen, Charles. Beethoven's Piano Sonatas: A Short Companion. New Haven: Yale UP, 2002.
Print.