CHAPTER 29
Personalizing the Conversation: Beethoven and the Classical Sonata
OVERVIEW
This chapter presents the sonata as another representative instrumental genre of the Classical era.
Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata serves as the focus, illustrating the more intimate and personal
nature of the solo piano sonata in the first years of the nineteenth century.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the Classical sonata as an multimovement instrumental work for one or two
instruments
2. To understand the solo piano sonatas of Mozart and Beethoven as some of the most
important in the genre
3. To understand Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata as embodying elements of the Classical style as
well as the newly emerging Romanticism of the nineteenth century
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Review the standard multimovement cycle for Classical abstract instrumental works as
presented in Chapter 25, then compare it with the structure of Beethoven’s Moonlight
Sonata. Ask students what similarities the two models share (scherzo and trio in the middle
movement, fast final movement). What are the differences between the two outlines (slow
movement in song form as the first movement of the Moonlight)?
2. Play the theme of the second movement of Haydn’s Emperor Quartet from, then play the
opening theme of the first movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Ask students to
compare the stylistic elements of these two melodies. Which better falls under the category of
Classical and why? What kind of effect does Beethoven’s theme have on the listener that
Haydn’s theme does not, and vice versa? Emphasize the contemplative, dreamlike character
of Beethoven’s Moonlight theme as one of the defining characteristics of musical
Romanticism.
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. Emperor and Moonlight. These two titles are given to two pieces of abstract instrumental
music, the first to Haydn’s string quartet (Chapter 25) and the second to Beethoven’s piano
sonata. What connections do these titles have to the character of the music and to the personal
and professional nature of these two composers?
2. As the textbook notes, Beethoven’s “disruptions” of the musical conventions of the
eighteenth century in his Moonlight Sonata seem to have resulted in part from the
composer’s desire for subjective expressivity. This raises, again, the question of expression
and form. Are the two compatible? Or are they mutually exclusive? What commentary does
the Moonlight Sonata offer on this question?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
Classical or Romantic? This question will inevitably arise when you introduce Beethoven’s
music. Ensure students that these stylistic categories are not black and white but rather general,
assigned in retrospect, and, in Beethoven’s case, not to be strictly applied.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
Mozart: Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 (Pathétique)
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jones, Timothy. Beethoven: The Moonlight and Other Sonatas, Op. 27 and 31. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1999. A snapshot of Beethoven’s compositional output for solo
piano between the years 1801 and 1803. Chapter 1 (“Keyboard Culture”) provides a useful
account of the technological changes affecting the piano at the time of the Moonlight Sonata’s
composition. Other chapters treat the compositional style and reception of the Op. 27 and 31
sets.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Personalizing the Conversation: Beethoven and the Classical Sonata (Chapter 29)
I. The Sonata in the Classical Era
A. Sonata: instrumental work for one or two instruments
1. three or four contrasting movements: multimovement cycle
2. more intimate expression
3. Mozart and Beethoven piano sonatas most significant
B. Classical era sonata
1. important genre for amateurs
2. concert works for composer-performers
3. Beethoven’s thirty-two piano sonatas span compositional output
II. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
A. Beethoven’s life
1. born in Bonn, Germany
2. age eleven, supported mother and brothers
3. age twenty-two, moved to Vienna
4. worked under modified patronage system
a. taught aristocrats, worked for commissions, concertized, published works
5. progressive hearing loss (1802–1814)
B. Beethoven’s music
1. master in large-scale forms
2. individuality evident: pushed against formal conventions
3. compositions, three periods
a. first: reflection of Haydn and Mozart
b. second: strong dynamic contrasts, explosive accents, longer movements
c. third: chromatic harmonies, transcendent
4. output: orchestral music, nine symphonies, concertos, thirty-two piano sonatas,
chamber music, seventeen string quartets, one opera, choral music
C. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata
1. Moonlight: first style period
2. title by German poet, Ludwig Rellstab
3. sonata quasi una fantasia (“fantasy–like sonata”), three movements
4. dreamy first movement evokes emotional expressiveness of Romantic era
5. “Surely I have written better things.”
D. Listening Guide 18: Beethoven, Piano Sonata in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2
(Moonlight), First Movement (1801)
1. Adagio sostenuto; modified song form
a. two strophes separated by development section
b. delicate singing melody, expressive minor key
c. continuous triplet pattern in accompaniment
d. ethereal mood, soft dynamic