Beethoven Moonlight Sonata


The Beethoven Moonlight Sonata is probably one of Beethoven's most well known piano sonatas.  It consists of 3 parts, the first, and well known part, the second, adagio part, and the last part, which is presto.  I will talk about the first movement of The Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, which is written in 4/4 time, and makes use of triplets that a trained ear can easily hear.  The Beethoven Moonlight Sonata starts out with the left hand playing slow rolling notes, in the minor.  The right hand comes into play when the melody begins, after the left hand finishes creating the mood of the piece, which is dark and dreary.  The Beethoven Moonlight Sonata uses extremely great chord progressions, on top of an awesome melody line, which is why this piece is so famous.  The tone of the piece stays about the same throughout the whole first movement.  The Beethoven Moonlight Sonata pretty much stays in the minor, with a few exceptions that most people will never notice.  Most people will recognize the Moonlight Sonata, just after hearing the first few notes.  Why is this so noticeable, even though rolling chords are generic?  This is because Beethoven was an expert with chord progression, and learned how to make use of the chord progression to his advantage.  The Beethoven Moonlight Sonata is memorable, not because of the melody, but because of the great chord usage, with the nice melody to accompany it.  If you really think about it, the melody of the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata is very simple, and without that left hand coming into play, probably would sound boring.  Toward the end of the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, the melody is heard in the left hand, while the right hand plays the rolling triplets.  The Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, is an astonishing piece, and the first movement, is the best movement of this sonata.