0:00 One of the most famous pieces in the world
1:14 The historical context and 'sacred' tradition
2:29 Deafness and new sonatas
3:41 Sonata quasi una Fantasia - an experimental approach to the genre
5:17 “without dampers”
7:52 An enormous hit but not Beethoven's title
9:01 Connection with Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’
13:08 The beginning. A funeral march
15:13 A ghost scene & the '2nd subject’ lament
16:33 The dedicatee
17:45 The development section
18:52 The recap and coda
19:26 Classical form vs improvisation. Other movements
20:40 The first movement played on a fortepiano
The topic of this video is the first movement of Beethoven’s second 'Sonata quasi Una Fantasia’ Op 27, more commonly known today as the Moonlight Sonata, with a discussion about some of the less familiar aspects of the music’s genesis (especially its probable connection with Mozart’s Don Giovanni) and challenging some very old misconceptions about its title, its meaning, its tempo, its pedalling and even the way it is meant to sound.
The video ends with a recording of the complete first movement, played on a fortepiano. Following Beethoven’s instructions that the dampers be lifted from the strings throughout the movement, a poetic, mysterious and ghostly sound world is created in which each sonority dissolves impressionistically into the next.
This channel is very grateful to an anonymous donor for the use of a fortepiano for the recording of the first movement at the end of the video.
Matthew King has never been a good speller - we apologise for the misspelling of the word 'neapolitan' in the video.
Beethoven: Sonata quasi Una Fantasia Op 27 no. 2 (first movement)
Pianist: Matthew King
A recording of Mozart's trio from Scene 1 of Don Giovanni (the death of the Commendatore) can be seen here https://youtu.be/8wEMzWH52FA?si=q5MRB8-dFb_OvlwW (at 10:52)
A while ago, Andras Schiff gave a fascinating Wigmore Hall lecture on this sonata. Here's the recording: https://youtu.be/H6u9Ocp039Y?si=60gxqjvUh6JZg3C6
#Beethoven #Moonlightsonata #themusicprofessor
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Edited by Ian Coulter ( https://www.iancoultermusic.com )
Produced and directed by Ian Coulter & Matthew King