Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven: An Analysis
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 เม.ย. 2017
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Happy practicing!
-Allysia
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I've always listened to the first movement as a song of despair. The loss of his family, hearing, and his rough childhood. I thought of it as something related to his trauma. Rest in peace Beethoven, you're an inspiration.
The first movement of Moonlight sonata always has such emotional power over me. Every time I hear it I feel hope and the urge to cry at the same time. I enjoy the other movements, but they don't do as much for me.
This man kissed me once after I played for him when I was about 10 or so. It was a while ago so I cannot remember if this actually happened or not
It sure did.
@Toxic Boxic not much. You?
😂😂😂
What is happening here
It was written in my John Thompson Grade 2 Book.
Part 1: Intermediate
Part 2: Advanced
Part 3 : Impossible
Correction:
Part 1: Beginner
Part 2: Intermediate
Part 3: Advanced
Impossible? Search Feux follets.
chénsī oart 3 usbt as hard as it looks its just fast arpeggios i know how to play the beginning slow oart abd fast ebding 3rd mivement but not the 2nd movemeny middle
I don't consider myself an advanced player, i would say i'm an intermediate and I'm learning the 3rd movement at the moment. I've got through the first 43 bars, playing at i'd say 80% performance speed, and I am not having much trouble for now. As Skyler said, the arpeggios in the beginning are especially easy, it's just about increasing the speed slow enough so that you maintain your precision and clarity. Just don't do the same mistake I did, I increased the speed way to fast, and i was technically playing at performance speed, but notes were landing off beat, there was no clarity, and everything was falling apart.
Correction
Part 1: Intermediate
Part 2: Beginner
Part 3: Advanced
the first movement is more like a poem, the second is like a calm dance, and the last is like an action scene. i love this piece. thanks for sharing your knowledge of it to us.
That's a good way to break it down!
i just finished learning the first mvmt, harder than i thought it would be
S A D V E R S A C E P I Z Z A 2 0 0 6 Balancing the voices makes it diffcult. Took time to get it sounding decent.
S A D V E R S A C E P I Z Z A 2 0 0 6 gratzz
It isn't easy to memorize as it just wanders all over the place. And for me, trying to reach those few ninths is difficult.
Same Hahaha. I wouldn't say it would be hard because I have big hands. But since it is like a 6 minute long piece, I guess it could be quite difficult. There are some patterns in the piece though. Congratulations on that!
True. The patterns help out with the memorization. But it was one of those pieces that had to be in my brain for some time before I attempted it. :)
You are right. Once you start learning this piece you can get closer to Beethoven genius.
It’s mesmerizing. We lack of words to describe what this music makes us feel.
I definitely agree about the first movement. I never saw it as romantic, but more eerie/sad. Second movement reminds me of an elf. Third movement is hard to describe. Good rage piece. I found it really interesting that Chopin used the cadenza in his Fantasy Impromptu. If you check out Paul Barton's tutorial on that piece, he demonstrates.
I'll check that out! I love your "elf" and "rage piece" descriptions. :)
Thanks! :)
Agreed.
Romantic Beethoven is more like String Quartet 13, Movement 4.
The first movement of this sonata is just bone chilling and sad.
Allysia,
As a music teacher of 26 years, I had to respond to the "rant" in this video.
NEVER be ashamed or feel the need to apologize for your emotional responses to the arts.
Being nearly 60 years old, I have seen and experienced a great deal of insanity and irrationality in the world. When I see someone as you who, as a young (relatively) person, has a passion such as yours, I remember there is still hope for the world. The arts bring sanity and peace to my life and I too, have found myself being moved to tears by music.
Thank you for being willing to allow everyone to see who you are and thank you for your dedication to teaching us your passion (as well as your piano abilities!)
Congratulations on your recent nuptuals - I will celebrate 33 yrs. with my blessed wife this August!
Keep up the great work!
I might add the request to Allycia would you please do us all a favour and make a "rant" video, it would be a rather edifying video for us all.
Now that's how to comment on a video.
The first movement was the first thing I ever learned on piano. I’ve been playing for two years now. Now I can play pop and rock songs by ear or even play along with those I’ve never heard. I’ve learned to improvise with different rhythms and and styles. At this stage in my piano journey. I’ve made 3 complete songs exceeding four minutes in length. 2 of them are memorized. 1 is an improvisation so no two recordings are the same. This song is significant to me and will always have a special place in my heart. *hears the faint sound of Beethoven shouting from his grave that he’s done better*
Your comments at 7:00 regarding witnessing genius up close in the comfort of your own home really hit home for me! I bought a Dover collection of Beethoven's string quartets for $5 at a library book sale a few months back and every time I open that book I feel so fortunate for having the ability to be transported back in time into that man's mind...
It's one of the most beautiful melodies ever written (but of course reflecting a very depressive mood...) Beethoven was a genius 💘💖💝💘💗
Beathoven has inspired me to get into playing the piano again, and it is just amazed me how he put so much emotion into an song. I’m sorry I’m not very good at explaining but it really just inspires me.
This video helped me in two ways.
1) I understood what Moonlight Sonata is about.
2) I never understood the use of enharmonic until today!
Thanks!!
I am playing the third movement for an exam very soon! So happy you made this video!!!
Ely T Good luck, your amazing, how long have you been playing?
Oh, wow, good luck!
Samuel Miyagi Thank you! I've been playing since I was 5 years old.
Miss Capri Thanks!
Good stuff, keep practicing I have been playing since I was 3 till 12, but sadly stopped till now I am 23. Shame I missed my best time to learn
Absolutely love these videos!! Thank you! All the love! ❤
I have been afflicted with diarrhea for weeks and I listen to this movt and it helps
I had memorized the first two movements of the Moonlight Sonata in my early twenties and started the third over fifty years ago before having any lessons. Had really enjoyed playing the Pathetique Sonata. Decided to get more serious and lessons were required. My first was with a concert pianist but things happened and transferred to the professor of piano at a major university in Indiana. Began to be a real student of Liszt shortly after and my first performance was Un Sospiro which was my selection for a major piano competition, which I did not place due to a few technical mistakes.. Liebestraum followed. Up to that point it all ended (military, family, job, etc) and so......now in my seventies and bought a piano two years ago and having fun! BTW: even at this age have added Liszt's Consolations to my new learning experiences.
Love your interpretation of this beautiful masterpiece. This stirs something within me when I listen to it. This one as none other. I love classical music. Thanks for sharing.
I'm playing the 3rd movement for my final exam! This was very helpful, thank you :)
I cannot agree more! Hearing you speak of your revelation upon discovering how to play this was EXACTLY how I felt yesterday! I was all emotional and teary eyed and full of joy and appreciation for how absolutely beautiful and amazing this piece is. Thank you for breaking this down! Amazing!
Just a delight, and fascinating. You give us such understanding in so short a time.
I love this video and you channel. I love listening to musicians talk about, analyze, and describe music they are passionate about. I am new to piano and classical music, but I have been playing traditional Arabic music for 8 years. They are different in many ways. Arabic music is melodic and heterophonic with heavy emphasis on ornamentation, embellishment, and improvisation. So it would be a challenge for me to play multiple lines of music at the same time. Challenging, but exciting!
I am not a student in college . I am a lover of music . I have never heard music explained like this before ! I love Lead Zep & Psy Trance ! I could learn off you all day !! P.S I am 60
Couldnt agree more, even tho i am 15
Excellent video. It's great to get your analysis of the classic piano pieces.
I love these videos. Exuberant, educational, and fun. Thank you.
Your videos are so fun and engaging! Your amount of content is mega inspiring!
Awesome!
This was a wonderful video, like so many you have done. What struck me about this one was the clips from your own recording of the first mvt. They were beautiful and made me think that we don't get to hear you play all that often in these videos. So please, let us hear more of your playing when you can.
Thank you so much for doing this. I truly appreciate the time and effort you put into sharing your insights and love of music with us. You are amazing!
Thanks! :) I get requests to play quite often, so it's something I'm considering to do more in future videos (though I am admittedly a better teacher than performer).
This sonata is my favorite piece of art. To me it's man's best achievement. Especially the 1st movement. Nothing less. I cry just hearing about it!
Thank you so much for making this!
I love your channel... it's the best thing ever! total fan
Amazing video!
This was my first big piece as a teen (movement 1) and i felt and remember the feeling of accomplishment as i became more proficient. I would love an in depth on 3rd movement sometime...so good!
I appreciate the video, Allysia. (I've just started learning the first page of the first movement).
Beautifully done
I loved your playing the most, many, many thanks.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I'm learning the 3rd movement and also - immediately subbed! :D I also really like how Valentina plays it. :)
Amazing
Excellent
my 3rd favorite Beethoven piano sonata.... gives me chills!
Amazing lady, this is so entertaining to watch ! Hi from London!,
you are completely right about witnessing genius and it's overwhelming and beautiful :)
Wait, a rant can be positive and uplifting? In TH-cam?! Now that blows my mind. :)
I have to write an essay about this piece and this video was really helpful, Thank You!
Wow. I love this piece of music. I am not a music "geek" but love how you broke this down.
Thanks!
Very informative. Working on all 3 movements of this and the pathetique, maybe a year or 18 months from mastering both, already been on it for close to 20 years now. But only had a good teacher for about 3 years, so much greater progress now. Also have rewritten/embellished the slow movement to pick up the pace a tad and really bring out the beautiful harmonic subtleties in the bass and brilliant voicings, would love to get your critique some day. I love your vids, you really know your stuff and bring love and life to the works, I mean the "songs", gosh it's just a descriptive term, I knew what you meant.
i know the feeling dear, also when i read beautiful poetry
Love this song so much. I just started learning the piano, and whenever i hear this song, especially the 3rd movement, it makes me really want to go get better at the piano, so i can one day play it!
I learned the first movement in my 3rd year of piano study. If I, of all people, can do it, I'm certain you can, too.
I'm in my 14th Year of study of the piano and the 3rd movement is still a tough piece, but with a piano teacher you should be fine
I know how you feel. I started playing piano 4 years ago and heard about this piece 3.5 yrs ago. Ever since I was patient and practiced until I felt ready to learn this. Like, I even learned Rachmaninoff s prelude in g minor and other pretty difficult pieces before to warm me up for this. Now I finished the first movement and I'm super excited to learn the rest. It will be my biggest milestone when I finally learn all of it because its been a goal of mine for so long, the hype is real :D
Thank you. You help me to understand the sonata form.
Vermeer's "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" is known as the Mona Lisa of the North as well...
Amazing analysis of one of the true Masterpieces'
Gracias por existir y compartir tus conocimientos.
There's a very good reason this piece is still so famous hundreds of years later.
Right on, girl! 🤘🏻
yesssssss first song ever that iam learning, love the piano cause moonlight
Great exposition!
Thank you so much, you've helped me fall even more in love with a work I already cherish.
pm
Mind blown subscribed
I love playing the moonlight sonata, I remember the excitement when playing the first movement back in 1988 when I was 18yrs old, and when it sounded flowing and not mechanical as it was before, and then completing the whole of the first movement, I also love playing the 2nd movement minuet and trio, I love the lilting sound of this 2nd movement, my next challenge is now to learn the 3rd movement, I've done a bit of it, and it's humbly speaking sounding better than before, so determined to play this as well, thank you for this very helpfull video, greetings from wales uk.
Beethoven kissed me when I listened to all of his symphonies 🥰
huh
Awesome
Hello. I just discovered you :D. Lucky me!!
Thanks. Wonderful videos.
Very interesting video Allysia! I play the first movement of this piece on the classical guitar. I think it's more beautiful on the piano but it works really well on guitar as well. I really like your enthousiasm and am glad that I discovered this channel :)
Great vidéo !
I almost thought this was going to turn into “I love cats” thing, though this would surly be worthy. You surprised me and I throughly enjoyed! Thank you
My fav Composers I listen to one of beethovens songs a day they read and Write but liszt I read was the ultimate sight reader phenomenal
It was overwhelming to learn to play... i couldn't believe how perfect it is
Just a few nights ago I wrote a rather extensive post about my non technical interpretation of the emotional structure of the sonata. It ties together the three movements based upon some of the points you mentioned. Specifically it focuses on the minuet and what it's actually accomplishing to bridge the two halves.
I had that moment when I was learning Nocturne Op9 no2 by Chopin... ❤️
I recently bought a piano. Am learning Moonlight Sonata now. I am experiencing the same thing as expressed in her “rant”. Tho I’m very familiar with the piece, learning it has giving me insight into its genius. I’ve had to stop many times because I was so blown away and had to catch my breath.
I actually really enjoy the second movement
I have just returned to playing the piano at the end of january this year after an 11 years completly off. I am very happy I was able to learn moonlight sonata 1st movement in a few months it is very beautiful to play. Also I have learned the first page of prelude in c# minor, middle part will take a while to learn.
i really love your handwriting
Ican play the whole sonata... and its very exciting.... everytime I start playing 1st move and finish 3rs movement... I try to feel how Beethoven probably did it... thanks for uploading =)
beautiful rant, I've always felt the same (crying in museums, feeling an intimate connection when learning a piece and getting to personally witness genius) but never known how to put it :D
Thank you I love you
This is the first video which made me listen to the the musical piece and understand it to some extent. :)
Learning the first movement now. :)
I love the analysis on piano sonata no.14! What an amazing piece of history and probably my favorite piece of music ever written and the darkest and strangely hopeful sonata of history. I love the restraint and emotion each movement embodies. No other piece of music (and I've pored over so many!) Evokes emotion beyond any classical piece. I am working on a transcript for a 4 instrument version, in which I hoped that my own flair would come through, only to find that any changes I made just felt like sacrilege! I cannot play piano. I read music, am trained in theory, yet piano is not in my wheelhouse. I am passable at any other string instrument. Your expression in movement 2 was sublime! Funny how most only know movement one! I actually like the second and third movement more, since they're so technically impressive! Sorry for the rant but I'm so passionate about music, esp. this arrangement!
it was a very nice video
It's refreshing to hear someone else think similarly about the lackluster 2nd mov't. A "palate-cleanser" is the perfect description for it. I swear I hear fleeting inspirational elements of Liszt and Chopin in the 3rd mov't.
when I hear the section with the diminished arps, I can't help but feeling that Beethoven was thinking about all his broken dreams. I learned this piece some years ago but it was before I knew much of anything about Beethoven. But after I have read several biographies about him, this work is 10 times more powerful now. You can't play classical music without knowing about the composer, and the more you know about them, the better....otherwise you are really a half-baked musician.
Congrats! Great explanation! I'm studying it right now (it's been a couple of weeks of struggles and finger pain - hahaha - yeah, I'm an adult piano student and sometimes progress is "kinda" slow hahaha I'm very happy though, cause I'm already learning the last page of the first movement!)... Anyways... Thanks for the video! (btw, I'm writing from Brazil!)
I always think of the first movement as a sad song but I’m learning to play it right now as a beginner and can only use my right hand for most of it. Once I quit playing with the left and only use the right it starts to sound more sweet and cheerful.
Of course Valentina Lisitsa would play the 3rd movement exceptionally! She is just super amazing with speed and dexterity! I love her and am gonna watch right now! ❤
Henry Denner her version sucks no emotion what so ever murray periaha plays it 1000x better
"no emotion" usually means it's not ruined by excessive rubato. Beethoven ain't Chopin. He requires a consistent tempo.
great video btw
Thanks for this video! I just started learning the piano (Feb. 2021) and the 1st mvt. was the first serious piece I learnt completely.
I used to listen to Brendel's version, but when I started learning the piano I discovered the Barenboim version (about 40s slower). I really love it. I'll check Arrau's. One request: please to Pathetique!!! I'm currently trying to learn the 2nd movement. I'm sure your video will help!!
YOOOO I had no idea Fantasie Impromptu was dedicated to Beethoven. That and Moonlight Sonata are like my two favorite pieces and I wasn't even aware of their relation (besides that they're in the same key). Thanks so much
Hi I'm currently learning piano and I've been learning piano seriously (taking exams) for 3 years although I started fooling around with the piano since I was 3. Anyways, I'm taking ABRSM grade 6 exam this May. I always find an example of my pieces on TH-cam and I can't believe that I just came to your channel. Overall, I really love you channel and I hope you keep up with the good content. ❤️
Good luck with your exam! :)
I admit I don't comment much, but I love your channel!
6:53 YEah!!! I totally get you although Beethoven waaaaay over my level. I like your videos a lot, recently found them...
One of the handful of songs that make me cry includes moonlight sonata and the lark by Glinka
I dont play at all. I am a listener. Thank you for your brilliant explanations! It helps me understand what I am hearing. Obviously classical music differs from other more modern genres and for a lover of Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Vivaldi.....etc it really motivates me to be ok with my love of what I love! What is your opinion of contemporary classically influenced heavy metal bands suchlike Metallica? With the almost completed "Unforgiven"? I am now a new subscriber and admirer of every video you put out! So intelligent!
Why are we so fascinated by the moon ? I came here from listening to you talk about Debussy and his Clair de Lune and here we are with Moonlight Sonata. BTW, have you heard TOMITA's version of C.deLune? He used synthesizers and the result is amazing. All he ever did was take classical music and synthesize it. Took it to another dimension. Listen to it.
In the first movement beethoven plays all of the twelve notes and makes it all sound so beautiful, everything fits so perfectly. Is this typical in classical music.
The moonlight first movement is a russian novel---the voices speak to/with each other in a drama scene...only i play it that way.
I'd love to hear an explanation as to why a section of a solo piano piece is called a "trio" since one would normally associate the term with three separate instruments/voices playing together. I have heard the term for years and have just started to get full understanding of its use in this context. Any more commentary on the topic would be greatly appreciated! 😀🎹
From the title I was hoping it was going to be more of a breakdown of the theory and musical features that make up the pieces, but this was an interesting video nonetheless!
I actually considered doing that, but it would have meant micro-focusing on just one movement. Maybe I'll do that in a future video!
I love how much you respond to everyone's comments :) By the way, I recorded a version of the first movement, it would be great to get your feedback, it's on my page.
+pianoTV I, too, would LOVE a breakdown of the theory. 😃
THERE SHOULD BE MORE MUSICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.
She is epic