The message about Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is brief. "Moonlight Sonata"

The heroic-dramatic line does not exhaust all the versatility of Beethoven’s quest in the field piano sonata. The content of "Lunar" is connected with something else, lyric-dramatic type.

This work became one of the composer's most stunning spiritual revelations. At the tragic time of the collapse of love and the irreversible decline of hearing, he spoke here about himself.

The Moonlight Sonata is one of the works in which Beethoven sought new ways to develop the sonata cycle. He called her sonata-fantasy, thereby emphasizing the freedom of composition, which deviates far from the traditional scheme. The first movement is slow: the composer abandoned the usual sonata style in it. This is an Adagio, completely devoid of the figurative and thematic contrasts typical of Beethoven, and this is very far from the first part of the “Pathetique”. This is followed by a small Allegretto of a minuet nature. The sonata form, saturated with extreme drama, is “reserved” for the finale, and it is this that becomes the culmination of the entire composition.

The three parts of “Lunar” are three stages in the process of developing one idea:

• Part I (Adagio) - mournful awareness of life's tragedy;
• Part II (Allegretto) - pure joy that suddenly flashed before the mind's eye;
• Part III (Presto) - psychological reaction: mental storm, outburst of violent protest.

That immediate, pure, trusting thing that Allegretto brings with it instantly ignites Beethoven’s hero. Having woken up from his sorrowful thoughts, he is ready to act and fight. The last movement of the sonata turns out to be the center of drama. This is where everything is directed imaginative development, and even in Beethoven it’s hard to name another sonata cycle with a similar emotional build-up towards the end.

The rebellion of the finale, its extreme emotional intensity turns out to be reverse side silent sorrow Adagio. What is concentrated within itself in the Adagio breaks outward in the finale, this is the release of the internal tension of the first part (a manifestation of the principle of derivative contrast at the level of the relationship between the parts of the cycle).

Part 1

IN Adagio Beethoven's favorite principle of dialogical oppositions gave way to lyrical monologue - the one-theme principle of solo melody. This speech melody, which “sings while crying” (Asafiev), is perceived as a tragic confession. Not a single pathetic exclamation disturbs inner concentration, grief is strict and silent. In the philosophical fullness of the Adagio, in the very silence of grief, there is much in common with the drama of Bach’s minor preludes. Like Bach, the music is full of internal, psychological movement: the size of phrases is constantly changing, tonal-harmonic development is extremely active (with frequent modulations, intruding cadences, contrasts of the same modes E - e, h - H). Interval relationships sometimes become emphatically acute (m.9, b.7). The ostinato pulsation of the triplet accompaniment also originates from Bach’s free prelude forms, at times coming to the fore (the transition to the reprise). Another textured layer of Adagio is the bass, almost passacal, with a measured descending step.

There is something mournful in Adagio - the dotted rhythm, asserted with particular persistence in the conclusion, is perceived as the rhythm of a funeral procession. Form Adagio 3x-particular of developmental type.

part 2

Part II (Allegretto) is included in the “Lunar” cycle, like a bright interlude between two acts of the drama, highlighting their tragedy by contrast. It is designed in lively, serene colors, reminiscent of a graceful minuet with a perky dance tune. The complex 3x-partial form with trio and reprise da capo is also typical for the minuet. In terms of imagery, Allegretto is monolithic: the trio does not introduce contrast. Throughout the Allegretto, Des-dur is preserved, enharmonically equal to Cis-dur, the same key Adagio.

Final

The extremely tense finale is the central part of the sonata, the dramatic culmination of the cycle. The principle of derivative contrast manifested itself in the relationship between the extreme parts:

• despite their tonal unity, the color of the music is sharply different. The mutedness, transparency, and “delicacy” of Adagio are opposed by the frantic sound avalanche of Presto, full of sharp accents, pathetic exclamations, and emotional explosions. At the same time, the extreme emotional intensity of the finale is perceived as the tension of the first part breaking through in all its power;
• the extreme parts are combined with an arpeggiated texture. However, in Adagio she expressed contemplation and concentration, and in Presto she contributes to the embodiment of mental shock;
• original thematic core main party The finale is based on the same sounds as the melodious, undulating beginning of part 1.

The sonata form of the finale of “Lunarium” is interesting due to the unusual relationship of the main themes: the leading role from the very beginning is played by a secondary theme, while the main one is perceived as an improvisational introduction of a toccata nature. It is an image of confusion and protest, given in a rushing stream of rising waves of arpeggios, each of which ends abruptly with two accented chords. This type of movement comes from prelude improvisational forms. The enrichment of sonata dramaturgy with improvisation is observed in the future - in the free cadences of the reprise and especially the coda.

The melody of the side theme sounds not as a contrast, but as a natural continuation of the main part: the confusion and protest of one theme results in a passionate, extremely excited statement of another. The secondary theme, compared to the main one, is more individualized. It is based on pathetic, verbally expressive intonations. Accompanied by a secondary theme, the continuous toccata movement of the main part is maintained. The secondary key is gis-moll. This tonality is further consolidated in the final theme, in the offensive energy of which the heroic pulse is palpable. Thus, the tragic appearance of the finale is revealed already in its tonal plane (the exclusive dominance of the minor).

The predominant role of the side is also emphasized in the development, which is almost exclusively based on a single topic. It has 3 sections:

• introductory: this is a short, only six bars of the main theme.
• central: development of a side topic that takes place in different keys and registers, mostly in the low.
• big pre-reprise precursor.

The role of the climax of the entire sonata is played by code, its scale exceeding development. In the code, similar to the beginning of development, the image of the main part fleetingly appears, the development of which leads to a double “explosion” on a diminished seventh chord. And again a side topic follows. Such a persistent return to one topic is perceived as an obsession with one idea, as an inability to distance oneself from overwhelming feelings.

The history of the creation of L. Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata"

In the very late XVIII century, Ludwig van Beethoven was in his prime, he was incredibly popular, he was active social life, he could rightfully be called the idol of youth of that time. But one circumstance began to darken the composer’s life - his gradually fading hearing. “I drag out a bitter existence,” Beethoven wrote to his friend. “I am deaf. With my profession, nothing could be more terrible... Oh, if I could get rid of this disease, I would embrace the whole world.”

In 1800, Beethoven met the Guicciardi aristocrats who came from Italy to Vienna. The daughter of a respectable family, sixteen-year-old Juliet, had good musical abilities and wanted to take piano lessons the idol of the Viennese aristocracy. Beethoven does not charge the young countess, and she, in turn, gives him a dozen shirts that she sewed herself.

Beethoven was a strict teacher. When he didn’t like Juliet’s playing, frustrated, he threw the notes on the floor, pointedly turned away from the girl, and she silently collected the notebooks from the floor.
Juliet was pretty, young, sociable and flirtatious with her 30-year-old teacher. And Beethoven succumbed to her charm. “Now I am in society more often, and therefore my life has become more fun,” he wrote to Franz Wegeler in November 1800. - This change was made in me by my dear, charming girl who loves me and whom I love. I have bright moments again, and I come to the conviction that marriage can make a person happy.” Beethoven thought about marriage despite the fact that the girl belonged to an aristocratic family. But the composer in love consoled himself with the thought that he would give concerts, achieve independence, and then marriage would become possible.

He spent the summer of 1801 in Hungary on the estate of the Hungarian counts of Brunswick, relatives of Juliet's mother, in Korompa. The summer spent with my beloved was happiest time for Beethoven.
At the peak of his feelings, the composer began to create a new sonata. The gazebo where, according to legend, Beethoven composed magical music, has survived to this day. In the homeland of the work, in Austria, it is known as “Garden House Sonata” or “Gazebo Sonata”.

Sonata started in state great love, delight and hope. Beethoven was sure that Juliet had the most tender feelings for him. Many years later, in 1823, Beethoven, then already deaf and communicating with the help of conversation notebooks, talking with Schindler, wrote: “I was very loved by her and more than ever, I was her husband...”
In the winter of 1801 - 1802, Beethoven completed the composition of a new work. And in March 1802, Sonata No. 14, which the composer called quasi una Fantasia, that is, “in the spirit of fantasy,” was published in Bonn with the dedication “Alla Damigella Contessa Giullietta Guicciardri” (“Dedicated to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi”).
The composer finished his masterpiece in anger, rage and extreme resentment: from the first months of 1802, the flighty coquette showed a clear preference for the eighteen-year-old Count Robert von Gallenberg, who was also fond of music and composed very mediocre musical opuses. However, to Juliet, Gallenberg seemed like a genius.
The composer conveys the entire storm of human emotions that was in Beethoven’s soul at that time in his sonata. This is grief, doubt, jealousy, doom, passion, hope, longing, tenderness and, of course, love.

Beethoven and Juliet separated. And also later composer received a letter. It was ending cruel words: “I am leaving a genius who has already won, to a genius who is still struggling for recognition. I want to be his guardian angel." It was " double strike" - as a man and as a musician. In 1803, Giulietta Guicciardi married Gallenberg and left for Italy.
In mental turmoil in October 1802, Beethoven left Vienna and went to Heiligenstadt, where he wrote the famous “Heiligenstadt Testament” (October 6, 1802): “Oh, you people who think that I am evil, stubborn, ill-mannered, how do you they are unfair to me; you do not know the secret reason for what seems to you. In my heart and mind, since childhood, I have been predisposed to a tender sense of kindness, I have always been ready to accomplish great things. But just think that for six years now I have been in an unfortunate state... I am completely deaf..."
Fear and the collapse of hopes give rise to thoughts of suicide in the composer. But Beethoven gathered his strength and decided to start new life and in almost absolute deafness he created great masterpieces.
In 1821, Juliet returned to Austria and came to Beethoven’s apartment. Crying, she recalled the wonderful time when the composer was her teacher, talked about the poverty and difficulties of her family, asked to forgive her and help with money. Being a kind and noble man, the maestro gave her a significant amount, but asked her to leave and never appear in his house. Beethoven seemed indifferent and indifferent. But who knows what was going on in his heart, tormented by numerous disappointments.
“I despised her,” Beethoven recalled much later. “After all, if I wanted to give my life to this love, what would be left for the noble, for the highest?”

In the autumn of 1826, Beethoven fell ill. Grueling treatment and three complex operations could not get the composer back on his feet. All winter, without getting out of bed, completely deaf, he suffered because... he could not continue to work. On March 26, 1827, the great musical genius Ludwig van Beethoven died.
After his death, a letter “To the Immortal Beloved” was found in a secret wardrobe drawer (as Beethoven himself titled the letter): “My angel, my everything, my self... Why is there deep sadness where necessity reigns? Can our love survive only at the cost of sacrifice by refusing completeness? Can't you change the situation in which you are not entirely mine and I am not entirely yours? What a life! Without you! So close! So far! What longing and tears for you - you - you, my life, my everything...” Many will later argue about who exactly the message is addressed to. But little fact points specifically to Juliet Guicciardi: next to the letter was kept a tiny portrait of Beethoven’s beloved, made by an unknown master, and the “Heiligenstadt Testament”.

Be that as it may, it was Juliet who inspired Beethoven to write his immortal masterpiece.
“The monument of love that he wanted to create with this sonata very naturally turned into a mausoleum. For a person like Beethoven, love could not be anything other than hope beyond the grave and sorrow, spiritual mourning here on earth” (Alexander Serov, composer and music critic).
The sonata “in the spirit of fantasy” was at first simply Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, which consisted of three movements - Adagio, Allegro and Finale. In 1832, the German poet Ludwig Relstab, one of Beethoven's friends, saw in the first part of the work an image of Lake Lucerne on a quiet night, with moonlight reflecting from the surface. He suggested the name “Lunarium”. Years will pass, and the first measured part of the work: “Adagio of Sonata No. 14 quasi una fantasia,” will become known to the whole world under the name “ Moonlight Sonata».

Miniature portrait of Juliet Guicciardi (Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi, 1784-1856), married to Countess Gallenberg

The sonata is subtitled “in the spirit of fantasy” (Italian: quasi una fantasia), because it breaks the traditional sequence of movements “fast-slow-[fast]-fast”. Instead, the sonata follows a linear trajectory from the slow first movement to the stormy finale.

The sonata has 3 movements:
1. Adagio sostenuto
2. Allegretto
3. Presto agitato

(Wilhelm Kempff)

(Heinrich Neuhaus)

The sonata was written in 1801 and published in 1802. This is the period when Beethoven increasingly complained of deteriorating hearing, but continued to be popular in Vienna high society and had many students and disciples in aristocratic circles. On November 16, 1801, he wrote to his friend Franz Wegeler in Bonn: “The change that has now taken place in me is caused by a sweet, wonderful girl who loves me and is loved by me. There were some magical moments in those two years and for the first time I felt that marriage could make a person happy.”

It is believed that the “wonderful girl” was Beethoven’s student, the 17-year-old Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom he dedicated the second sonata Opus 27 or “Moonlight Sonata” (Mondscheinsonate).

Beethoven met Juliet (who came from Italy) at the end of 1800. The quoted letter to Wegeler dates back to November 1801, but already at the beginning of 1802 Juliet preferred Count Robert Gallenberg, a mediocre amateur composer, to Beethoven. On October 6, 1802, Beethoven wrote the famous “Heiligenstadt Testament” - a tragic document in which desperate thoughts about hearing loss are combined with the bitterness of deceived love. The dreams were finally dispelled on November 3, 1803, when Juliet married Count Gallenberg.

The popular and surprisingly durable name “lunar” was assigned to the sonata on the initiative of the poet Ludwig Relstab, who (in 1832, after the death of the author) compared the music of the first part of the sonata with the landscape of Lake Firvaldstätt on a moonlit night.

People have repeatedly objected to such a name for the sonata. L. Rubinstein, in particular, protested energetically. “Moonlight,” he wrote, requires musical image something dreamy, melancholy, thoughtful, peaceful, generally gently shining. The first movement of the cis-minor sonata is tragic from the first to the last note (the minor mode also hints at this) and thus represents a cloud-covered sky - a gloomy spiritual mood; last part stormy, passionate and, therefore, expressing something completely opposite to the gentle light. Only the small second part allows for a minute of moonlight...”

This is one of the most popular Beethoven sonatas, and one of the most popular piano works in general (

Moonlight Sonata: music of lost love.
It's beautiful piano piece know not only avid music lovers, but also any more or less cultured person. Even far from musical art People have at least once heard a melody full of bewitching sadness, or at least the phrase “moon sonata.” So what is this work?

About music

The real title of the work is Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor. It was written by the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven in 1801.
The fourteenth sonata, like the thirteenth before it, has the author’s subtitle “In the spirit of fantasy.” With this clarification, the composer wanted to draw attention to the difference between the form of his composition and the generally accepted form for this genre. At that time, the traditional sonata consisted of four movements. It should have started at fast pace, and the second part is in slow motion.
Sonata No. 14 consists of three movements. Without going into special musical terminology, they can be briefly described as follows:
1. Slow and reserved;
2. lively in dance character;
3. excitedly - impetuous.
It turns out that the first part was, as it were, skipped, and the work began immediately with the second.
It is noteworthy that the name “Lunar” refers only to the first, most famous in wide circles, parts. The name was given not by Beethoven, but by his younger contemporary, the German music critic and playwright Ludwig Relstab. Although the critic was personally acquainted with the composer, the comparison of music with moonlight appeared in 1832, after the death of the author. In Relshtab’s ideas, the music of the first part of the sonata was associated with “moonlight over Lake Firvaldstätt,” according to his own statement.
The sound of the first, “lunar” part is not at all lyrical, as it might seem at first glance, but mournful. For example, when criticizing Alexander Serov, one could even hear mournful despondency in the music. There is an explanation for the mournful and dramatic intonations of the music, which will be discussed below.

About the history of creation

The work was dedicated to a young seventeen-year-old girl named Juliet Guicciardi. She was a noble aristocrat who took piano lessons from Beethoven. Soon, the time spent together between the thirty-year-old musician and his talented young ward went beyond the “teacher-student” relationship. The composer fell in love with a capable, intelligent and beautiful countess. Juliet was at first favorable to him and reciprocated her feelings. Beethoven was overwhelmed with emotions and made happy plans for a joint family future with his beloved.
But all his dreams collapsed when the young aristocrat became interested in Count Wenzel Gallenberg. By the way, Beethoven’s opponent was a very mediocre amateur composer.
Ludwig perceived his beloved's action as a betrayal. Probably, personal experiences were aggravated by a purely professional perception of the situation: him, musical genius, Juliet chose the untalented amateur.
Despite the title and noble birth, the girl’s family was not rich. Juliet and her parents always welcomed Ludwig into their home as an equal and never behaved arrogantly. However, when it came to marriage, preference was given to Count Gallenberg, whom Giulietta Guicciardi married.
It is noteworthy that Beethoven initially intended to dedicate another composition to his beloved girl - Rondo in G major. This was at a time when the relationship between them was still cloudless and happy. For reasons not related to personal sympathies, Rondo was dedicated to another lady - Princess Likhnovskaya.
The dedication to Guicciardi was made in memory of the happy time spent together. And although Sonata No. 14 for piano was published with a dedication to title page, Beethoven never forgave Juliet for “betrayal.”
In the 21st century, the work is one of the most popular masterpieces musical classics. According to statistical studies, in the Yandex search engine, requests for “Moonlight Sonata” are made more than thirty-five thousand times a month.

Beethoven's famous Moonlight Sonata appeared in 1801. In those years, the composer was not worried best time in your life. On the one hand, he was successful and popular, his works became increasingly popular, he was invited to famous aristocratic houses. The thirty-year-old composer gave the impression of a cheerful, happy person, independent and despising fashion, proud and contented. But Ludwig was tormented by deep emotions in his soul - he began to lose his hearing. This was a terrible misfortune for the composer, because before his illness Beethoven’s hearing was distinguished by amazing subtlety and accuracy, he was able to notice the slightest wrong shade or note, and almost visually imagined all the subtleties of rich orchestral colors.

The causes of the disease remained unknown. Perhaps it was due to excessive hearing strain, or a cold and inflammation of the ear nerve. Be that as it may, Beethoven suffered from unbearable tinnitus day and night, and the entire community of medical professionals could not help him. Already by 1800, the composer had to stand very close to the stage in order to hear high sounds orchestra playing, he could hardly distinguish the words of the people speaking to him. He hid his deafness from friends and family and tried to be in society as little as possible. At this time, young Juliet Guicciardi appeared in his life. She was sixteen, she loved music, played the piano beautifully and became a student of the great composer. And Beethoven fell in love, immediately and irrevocably. He always saw only the best in people, and Juliet seemed to him perfection, an innocent angel who came to him to quench his worries and sorrows. He was captivated by the cheerfulness, good nature and sociability of the young student. Beethoven and Juliet began a relationship, and he felt a taste for life. He began to go out more often, he learned to rejoice again simple things- music, sun, beloved’s smile. Beethoven dreamed that one day he would call Juliet his wife. Filled with happiness, he began work on a sonata, which he called “Sonata in the Spirit of Fantasy.”

But his dreams were not destined to come true. The flighty and frivolous coquette began an affair with the aristocratic Count Robert Gallenberg. She became uninterested in the deaf, poor composer from a simple family. Very soon Juliet became Countess of Gallenberg. The sonata, which Beethoven began to write in a state of real happiness, delight and trembling hope, was completed in anger and rage. Its first part is slow and gentle, and the finale sounds like a hurricane, sweeping away everything in its path. After Beethoven's death, a letter was found in his desk drawer, which Ludwig addressed to the careless Juliet. In it, he wrote about how much she meant to him, and what melancholy washed over him after Juliet’s betrayal. The composer's world collapsed, and life lost its meaning. One of Beethoven’s best friends, the poet Ludwig Relstab, called the “Moonlight” sonata after his death. At the sound of the sonata, he imagined the quiet surface of the lake and a lonely boat floating on it under the uncertain light of the moon.