Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.14, Op.27 No.2 "Moonlight" (1802)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.14, Op.27 No.2 "Moonlight (1802) I.Adagio sostenuto II.Allegretto III.Presto agitato Oleg Vainstein - piano The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2 was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. This 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". Translated more literally, this is "sonata almost a fantasy". 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." The C♯ minor sonata, particularly the third movement, is held to have been the inspiration for Frédéric Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu, and that the Fantaisie-Impromptu was actually a tribute to Beethoven. It manifests the key relationships of the sonata's three movements, chord structures, and even shares some passages. Ernst Oster writes: "With the aid of the Fantaisie-Impromptu we can at least recognize what particular features of the C♯ minor Sonata struck fire in Chopin. We can actually regard Chopin as our teacher as he points to the coda and says, 'Look here, this is great. Take heed of this example!' ... The Fantaisie-Impromptu is perhaps the only instance where one genius discloses to us – if only by means of a composition of his own – what he actually hears in the work of another genius." Людвиг ван Бетховен - Соната для фортепиано № 14 до-диез минор, ор. 27, № 2 («Лунная») Олег Вайнштейн - фортепиано Соната посвящена 18-летней Джульетте Гвиччарди, которой Бетховен в 1801 году давал уроки музыки. Композитор был влюблён в юную графиню и хотел на ней жениться. «Лунной» первую часть сонаты (Adagio sostenuto) назвал музыкальный критик Людвиг Рельштаб в 1832 году, уже после смерти автора — он сравнил это произведение с «лунным светом над Фирвальдштетским озером». В марте 1802 года соната № 14 — с посвящением Джульетте — была опубликована в Бонне, хотя с первых месяцев 1802 года Джульетта оказывала явное предпочтение композитору Венцелю Галенбергу и, в итоге, вышла за него замуж. Через полгода после написания сонаты, 6 октября 1802 года, Бетховен в отчаянии пишет «Гейлигенштадтское завещание». Некоторые бетховеноведы считают, что именно графине Гвиччарди композитор адресовал письмо, известное как письмо «к бессмертной возлюбленной». Оно было обнаружено после смерти Бетховена в потайном ящике его гардероба. Бетховен хранил миниатюрный портрет Джульетты вместе с этим письмом и «Гейлигенштадтским завещанием». Тоска неразделённой любви, мука потери слуха — всё это выразил композитор в «Лунной» сонате. Обе сонаты опуса 27 (№№ 13 и 14), имеют подзаголовок «в духе фантазии» (итал. quasi una fantasia): Бетховен хотел подчеркнуть то, что форма сонат отличается от классической сонатной формы.