Genre: classical
Year: recorded in 2006 - performed by Jorgos
Moonlight Sonata, the piano sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor (Quasi una fantasia) by Beethoven, was completed in 1801. It is believed that Beethoven dedicated the piece to his student with whom the composer fell in love. Moonlight Sonata was one of Beethoven’s most popular sonatas.
The Moonlight Sonata is divided into three separate parts from which this first movement is the most well known. The piece is based on an motif in triplet rhythm that creates the impression of a grave, meditative state of mind. Today, more than ever, Moonlight Sonata remains one of the most popular pieces of solo piano music in history.
The Moonlight Sonata is often used in suspenseful or emotional scenes in movies and televisions, like Immortal beloved or Misery, where the First Movement is played during the scene in which Paul Sheldon’s feet are broken with a sledge hammer.
The First Movement also figures into the first Resident Evil game. The Beatles’ song ‘Because’, is based on the Moonlight Sonata as well.
I very much like the recording of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata that is on this website. Can you please tell me what recording it is?
Thanks Diane. I recorded this version of Moonlight Sonata more than 2 years ago and will probably add another version on the short term.
All the best,
Jorgos
I am thrilled to have found my favorite Ludwig van Beethoven piece, “Moonlight Sonata” played so completely and beautifully as it should. I wish to thank-you for making it available for me to enjoy.
This is one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of music I have had the fortune of rediscovering, only now being able to fully comprehend the way it seems to take you away to a place that is amazing and tragic sumultaniously.
Do you have the 3rd movement available?
@ James: Not yet but will be included. Thanks for the suggestion.
i really enjoyed listening to Moonlight.It makes me think of something like sadness or remind me think of my whole life.
May I ask what kind of piano do you play on? I am just beginning to look – have never bought my own and always used my grandma’s grand piano (a George Steck).
Hi Jennifer, the sound you hear is from a Steinway grand piano
… It’s my favourite grand piano although I’m also in love with the sound and expression of Bosendorfer and Bluthner grand pianos. There are a lot of nice pianos out there, like Baldwin and Schimmel
Listening to this piece of music make you feel you have been taken to another world of fantasy and honesty.It reminds me of my whole life,and when I hear it I feel relaxed.It is absolutely fasinating and amazing.
This was absolutely beautiful. Moonlight Sonata is my favorite of Beethoven’s works, and it is refreshing to hear such a beautiful piece.
I really actually like this piece of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata it’s my favorite. It’s so inspirational to hear so amazing,what a remarkable piece.
the fifth bar in four four time is simply exquisite, i had small orgasms listning to this song here comes another oneeeeeeeeeeee! this is for you Todd! partners for eternity!
it makes me think about everything in my life
i love how classical music always takes my to another world and allows me dream and imagine
it makes me think about everything in my lif
I’m “Mexicano”, i think that this song is a great composition, it’s my favorite, good for beethoven. sean felices.
I felt great when i heard this for the first time..
I fell in love with this piece the first time I listened to it. I am a beginning piano player (but can read music) and this is on my list of pieces to learn. any suggestions on how to teach myself how to play this piece? RJ
me fascina el piano, no me es posible aprender a tocarlo debido a que no cuento con los medios, pero esta pieza contagia el sentimiento que el compositor plasmo en cada nota tan penetrante, te envuelve en una noche tranquila e iluminada por la delicada luz de una luna llena. Es algo maravilloso.
As we lived last friday (23rd january) the drama with the slaughter of 2 babies (8 & 9 months) together with a nurse (55) in a day care centre in Dendermonde by a psychopate and as parents of our selves of 4 children one of which, the smallest, is only 7 months, I remembered this beautiful sonata which makes me think about life… This masterpiece gives me hope and I truly wish the parents of the lost angels to find peace and tranquility in their ordeal some day in their continuing lives…
BB Belgium
It is abserlotly beautiful i am doing it at my school and i am doing a project on Beethoven and his life it is refreshing
This is beautiful! i want Amanda Hugenkiss too though!
Who played this? recording of moonlight Sonata?
I love this master piece i learned how to play it finally and i would love to teach it to anyone who want’s to learn it.
This song helps me relax alot when i am stressed and gets me thinking on life and how precious it can e if we try to make our life fun This songs just gets mt thinking alot
hi.ı’m not speak english very much.ı want to play piano but ı’m 15 years old.can ı play the piano?this age?ıs it too late?
It is never to late to play the piano if you want to play go for it nothing should stop you from persung your dream
tu blog es increíble
I love this piece sooo much! its my favorite! fur elise is my second favorite! i love this recording! who is playing?
although i am a 12 years old girl, but this is a very nice piece of the Classicals of Beethoven and i’d also like Virus ! These classical music of Beethoven is Fantacstic and Fabulous !
Beethoven you rock my world ! 
Sencillamente expuisita y definitivamente romantica
Please listen to the third movement of the 9th symphony.It seems that all of Beethovens works speak not in words but in the deepest emotions in the soul.
The most beautiful yet tragic piece. He was a genius ahead of his time. This song holds so much emotion in it like all of his other songs. But this one has something unusually unique about.
i like the sound of piano its so romantic
translation of Mery’s post:
It(He,She) fascinates the piano, me it is not possible to learn to touch it due to the fact that I do not possess(do not rely on) the means, but this piece infects the feeling that the composer I form in every so penetrating note, wraps you during a night calm and illuminated by the delicate light of a full moon. It is something wonderful.
I have to say on a personal note that this sonata deeply overwhelms my spirit with a great sorrow and joy at the same time. This beautiful masterpiece is a truly genius work of art. It fills the soul with in a way that is near impossible to describe. It is as if a thousand Angels take a time off from heaven to come down and sing it to me each time I play it.
I’m twelve years old and this masterful piece has sparked a curiosity for music (especially piano music) inside of me. I’ve learned how to read music and am currently teaching myself to play piano.
Just so that you don’t get confused, I wrote everything starting from “I have to say on a personal note…” and continuing onward. I didn’t want you to think that what I stated was a continuation of the translation of Mery’s post.
Wow, I have always loved this piece but this is the most beautiful I have ever heard it played. This pianist really caught the haunting beauty and depth that I feel personifies much of Beethoven’s works. Is this available to buy anywhere?
It is never too early or too late to learn the piano. Through my whole life i always had the yearning to learn the piano. Finally at 38 years old i took lessons. My favorite was fur elise…but now i believe it is Moonlight Sonata. It makes my heart slow down until i feel like i am in a dream.
I really love this piece.
This is one of the most beautifully and skillfully played renditions of the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven that I have ever heard. It brings tears of both joy and sadness to my eyes simultaneously. Thank you so much for sharing this with us Jorgos.
wow diz waz awesome!!!!!!
Wow! He is amazing for a blind man. I never heard anything like it.
ENTONAR EL PIANO ES UNA DE LAS COSA MAS LINDAS QUE PODIDO APRENDER EN ESTE MUNDO, ESTA MELODIA ES MUY SENTIMENTAL ES MUY BUENA…………
inspiration for the ears!!!!
to kelly, i think beethoven wasn’t blind.. he was deaf… he lost his hearing i think during the peak of his career. but he still managed to compose and play with the piano. a real genius isn’t he?
to kelly, i thought you were pertaining to beethoven, were you? anyway, moonlight sonata-great music… more than words can say.
i really love “moonlinght sonata” its breathtaking!! classical music is not my first choice of music but this has got to be my favorite in fact im going to walk down the asile to “moonlight sonata” creepy but so cool!! XoXo E XoXo
well-played! This is brilliant and nuanced, and it’s the almost best time I’ve ever heard this. ( I was wondering through the halls of my school, and began to follow the distant sound of music. After being lured to a far room around many twists and turns, there sat a thin bespectacled boy, playing this with all his heart.) the only reason this is not the best is because I wasn’t wandering, following the threads of music down labyrinthine halls.
Dear commenters,
Please stop raping me.
Signed,
The English Language
ps. I loved the recording, very melancholy, yet halcyon, it moved me.
g sharp sounds a little flat, not a criticism of the player! But flatter than I am used to!
es bella música yo toco el violoncello. participo en la orquesta del barrio de rio gallegos. me gustaría que me mandaran partituras de acompañamiento de piano para cello.
un gran saludo “adrián”
this song is good!!!i really love Beethoven songs!
When I listen to this I imagine Beethoven sat at his piano, all short of stature and tufts of hair covering bald spots. A constant grimace on his face to rival Father Jack from Father Ted, grunting and snorting every so often, perhaps with a little growling too. This carries on until 1:46, where suddenly the last two minutes of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture take the place of Moonlight Sonata. His eyes bulging, it takes about thirty seconds for him to realise what’s going on. It’s too much, way too much. You can see the blood boiling beneath his skin. In the shadows of a potted plant squats that Russian bastard, wires in his hands pulling his keys like a puppet, singing “Du nununu nuh nuh NUH na na” under his breath. Too much. Beethoven’s eyes bulge so far out his sockets with rage, a trickle of silver spit flying rampant as he opens his scowl to shout, vocal cords vibrating. Too late. In a massive bang unheard through the din, the blood that had accumulated in his pudgy face splattered the entire room, along with brains and bits of teeth and skull. His work here done, Tchaikovsky casually runs his bloodied fingers through his hair, and walks sedately out the door. Or at least, this is MY interpretation of the Moonlight Sonata.
macabre pale moon
Beethoven!
A real genius. I relly love this music. Its relaxing and majestic, poetry without words in a way. Beethoven was a real artist, a real magcian, a genius!
Moonlight sonata actually has a story about it. One evening, the moon was shining brightly. Beethoven was taking his usual evening stroll went he rached a small, shabby hut. He saw a girl playing a song on the piano. It sounded very familiar. Beethoven then realised it was a song composed by himself.The girl was talking to her brother. “I`m so sorry, I could not save enough money to buy you a ticket to Beethoven`s concert…” the brother said sorrowfully to her blind sister. Instead of losing her temper, she said it was alright.
She said she would try to memorise how his songs were played and play it to herself. Beethoven was deeply touched and walked into the hut. He played one of his songs for her. The girl was surprised to know that it was Beethoven himself. Beethoven invited the girl to come to his coincert and he wanted to share with her how beautiful the moon was. Despite the girl being blind, he composed a song that expressed the moon`s beauty. He then named it’moonlight sonata’.
the first time i heard this song was in a resident evil game for DS
l love this song ^_^
it’s amazing how the efforts of men can produce something so marvellous and divine!
NO MAMEN, ESTA CANCION ESTA DE POCA MADRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this song…aww i have no words to describe how much i love it. it is amazing ♥_♥
a bit fast but not bad at all
One word to describe Moonlight Sonata: Beautiful
Simply amazing… First time really hearing it was in Resident Evil in the safe room.
A truly remarcable piece.
Beethoven was an absolute genius.
tenia su corazon roto y tambien la tristeza de ya no oir .pero es sencilla y bella a la vez esta sonata
tremendo Hombre que Musica….la Noche y el Dia
ever since i heard my friend play this song at school i fell in love with it .. it’s so beautiful … and ever since that day i been trying to learn it and i only know how to play the intro to it … I’m not giving up till i master it . but beautiful beautiful song i love it …
THE MOONLIGHT SONATA (story)
One evening Ludwig van Beethoven and a friend were taking a walk. As they were passing through a narrow, dark street, they heard music coming from a little house.
“Hush!” Beethoven said. “It is from one of my most beautiful pieces.”
Suddenly a voice said, “I cannot play any more – it is so beautiful! How I wish I could hear that piece played by someone who could do justice to it!”
Without a word, Beethoven and his friend entered the house. It was the home of a poor shoemaker. At the piano sat a young girl.
“Pardon me,” said the great composer. “I am a musician. I heard you say you wished to hear someone play the piece you have just been playing. Will you permit me to play it for you?”
“Thank you very much,” answered the girl, “but our piano is very old. And we have no music sheets”.
“No music sheets! How did you play, then?” asked Beethoven.
The young girl turned her face toward the great master. Looking at her more closely, he saw that she was blind.
“I play from memory,” she said.
“Where did you hear the piece that you were playing just now?”
“I used to hear a lady practicing near our old home. During the summer evenings, her windows were open, and I walked to and fro outside to listen to her,” she answered.
Beethoven seated himself at the piano. The blind girl and her brother listened with rapture to the master’s playing. At last the shoemaker came near and asked, “Who are you?”
Beethoven made no answer. The shoemaker repeated his question, and the master smiled. He began to play the piece which the girl had been trying to play.
The listeners held their breath. When the playing stopped, they cried, “ You are the master himself! You are Beethoven!”
He rose to go, but they held him back.
“Play for us once more – only once more,” they pleaded. He seated himself again at the piano. The brilliant moonlight was shining into the bare little room.
“I will compose a sonata to the moonlight,” he said. He looked thoughtfully for sometime at the bright sky lit up by the moon and the twinkling stars. Then his fingers moved over the keys of the old, worn piano. In low, sad, sweet strains, he played his new piece. Finally, pushing back his chair, and turning towards the door he said, “Farewell to you.”
He paused and looked tenderly at the face of the blind girl. “Yes, I will come again and give you some lessons. Farewell! I will soon come again!”
Beethoven said to his friend, “Let us hurry that I may write out the sonata while I can yet remember it!”
That was how Ludwig van Beethoven’s famous “Moonlight Sonata” was composed.
i love this music by Beethoven.. It’s relaxing. Perfect for those people who have many worries in life like me
i will not be tired listening to this music. never. it’s so good.
I could listen for hours.
Great site.
I listened to this song 100 times.
helps with depression
esto si es arte
me encanta
Genial… me deja sin aliento… me encantaría escuchar juntas las piezas de claro de luna de Debussy y Bethoven juntas en vivo… Eso sería practicamente algo glorioso….
delightfully well played piece; thank you
i thought i was the music sheet
Words cannot describe this beautiful piece!
This is great music to put in my next movie for my website. my website is http://www.myfaveflicks.net
My movie is called Battle for Atlantis Sea of Dreams. Watch it on June 30,2009 on http://www.myfaveflicks.net
This is great music for the ending.
I heard it in a Spiderman Web of Shadows trailer.
Hi. Im Jesse L Martin. I like this music as well as all the other people like it. It’s peaceful. See me on TV!
i first heard moonlight sonta when i was 12 years old, 50 years ago….the sounds touched my heart and i could no longer keep it closed. good will to all, for there you are.
Satin slowly, softly, deliberately sliding its way across the skin. A cool summer night’s breeze kissing the sweat on your forehead. The grass, prickly and smelling of a thousand scents of the field invade your nostrils with thier welcome relief. The Sun slowly sets over the horizon while the crickets, barely audible, serenade you with thier monotone, yet immesuarably beautiful song. Your eyes begin to sag under the weight of the sheer relief of the moment, and slowly, purposefully you slip into slumber under the stars. Bliss cannot describe this event, only emotions, only the very senses with which you feel every blade of grass, ever pattern of the breeze, ever waking moment of nature’s million-year-old performance. This is what beauty consists of, the very embodiment of the audible climax which our ears were created for. One cannot ever fully appreciate this piece of music, nay, masterpiece of human perfection. If ever a song had the ability to truly transport one to a certain scene, to invoke the emotion of true peace, solemn joy, or quiet, uncompromising purpose, this piece of human perfection achieves this and much, much more.
es tan perfecta…
I listened that millions times..each one touched my heart took my soul..so many times it makes me cries…bu bbir büyü…MAGİCAL.
Hola Adrián
Soy María
Me podrías sugerir algunos discos y/o músicos
de violoncello me gustaría escucharlos y no encuentro hasta la fecha.
Gracias.
mukemmel dogrusu bızı cok uzaklara goturdu sıhırlı hos ve guzel bır dunyaya sadece huzur dolu tesekkurler Bethoven
this is the song that inspierd me to play piano im learning it just as i listen
..this piece is really nice
I love this song everyday i try to play this song on the piano im not so good in piano cause im new.
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sara
http://pianotutorial.net
It is very important to me to listen to this lovely and magical music at the morning.
Lana
It is very important to me to listen to this lovely and magical music at the morning
Lana
perfect.
Es una delicia como el mar
¡Simplemente hermosa!.
Cuando las palabras no pueden expresar lo maravilloso que puede existir en este mundo, surge la música desde el fondo del alma.
i love this song beethove’s songs are beautiful there’s no name for how good his songs are hes a genuis when i heard the the song i thought he played it and was sad but then i read the story and found out why he wrote the song he is magnificent and marvelouse in so inpressed by his music he inspires me he made me love his music and i love is songs so much im learning how to play his songs when i hear this song somtimes it helps me fall asleep it relaxes me i love beethoven if i had a choice to either listen to fur elis or moonlight sonota id pick moonlight sonota thanks beethoven
“It sounded very familiar. Beethoven then realised it was a song composed by himself.The girl was talking to her brother. “I`m so sorry, I could not save enough money to buy you a ticket to Beethoven`s concert…” the brother said sorrowfully to her blind sister. Instead of losing her temper, she said it was alright.”
Yeah, nice story, except the song was not named Moonlight Sonata by the composer himself, and was reportedly inspired by infatuation with one of his students.
Also, he was starting to lose his hearing by then, which makes the overheard conversation anecdote rather unlikely.
I’m not trying to be a jerk, but it’s one of the most gorgeous pieces of music ever written, why does it need some trite backstory?
RECOMIENDO MUCHO ACCEDAN A LA PAGINA WEB http://WWW.BASILIO.ORG.AR donde aprenderan conocimientos espirituales de las ENSEÑANZAS Para revincularnos con DIOS nuestro PADRE SUBLIME CREADOR FUENTE DE INSPIRACI{ON Y DE AMOR, que, el REDENTOR DE LA HUMANIDAD Y GUIA ESPIRITUAL DE LA ESCUELA CIENTIFICO BASILIO JESUS DE NAZARETH vino a IMPARTIRNOS a la HUMANIDAD ENTERA. PORQUE SOMOS SUS HERMANOS Y EL NOS AMA INFINITAMENTE, AL IGUAL QUE VUESTRO PADRE Y CREADOR, Y BRILLA EN SU LUZ PROPIA POR IRRADIAR AMOR, INTELIGENCIA Y LIBERTAD.
hola, a todos esta obra es una cosa bellisima… alguien sabe en donde puedo bajar la partitura original…. saludos y gracias..
i love beethoven
i’m spanish
Parabéns o site é muito bom! Encontrei os melhores clássicos de todos os tempos.
This would be great for my next movie on my website. (www.myfaveflicks.net)
Hi, I’m Jesse L Martin from TV. I like Obama and his idiotic speeches, and I like ponys and unicorns, but this music is jack crap
Then kindly keep your opinion to yourself, whoever that is, posing as Jesse L. Martin.
Beethoven was a genius, and this is one of his greatest pieces ever. Its lovely simplicity and beautiful spirit make it my all-time favorite song.
Just beautiful. Beethoven was the most brilliant composer I’ve ever heard. I agree with Arson; the lovely simplicity and beautiful spirit of Moonlight Sonata makes it an engaging piece. It captures his emotion perfectly, and sometimes, mine as well.
the sonata is simply elegant and thrilling to hear. anyone who hears this piece from the great composer is bound to imagine the moon shining mysteriously above him.
i am an african american and i believe this is the greats piece of all time. i dont listen to this type of music but when i heard this i was in awe. i cried and favored this particular piece it is the greatest
Nunca me cansaria de escuchar esta melodia, es tan hermosa…..aveces cuando la escucho en la oficina , parece que todo ami alrededor desapareciera, es sublime es transportadora…..es Hermosa!
i really love this type of music…its reaches my soul and it makes me cry…
la verdad que es una musica muy relajante
This is something i would lisen to every day if I could Beatiful Wonderous and Soul touching he was truely a great artist my Chior teaher crys when she hears him .(and so do I.)
How can you not love his music?Heart felt song touch others and his music thouches many lives and gives us pause, It lets us feel sorrow,love,pain,and emotions we have not experianced. Simpliy Lovly.
this is superrr!))
I think this is beyond the best peice of Classical music I have ever heard. It’s soothing to the soul! And yes, it makes some cry!
a very beautiful peace of art i would have to say indeed i love the texture
Músicas maravilhosas!
….such an enchanting piece of music, engaging the listener on many levels. Delicate, sublime and beautiful….. almost enigmatic. Quite simply!
beautiful song,
but it sounds kinda sad… like beethoven would’ve written it as if he had just gotten his heart broken… he definatly didn’t deserve whatever caused him to write such hauntingly beautiful music.
I have devoted my life to music and for such pieces like this to even exist is amazing it just shows that humanity, aside from it’s evil and corruption, has a side to it that can posses beauty and passion I only wish that music like this could be made today but the the reason we can’t is because people today lack what Beethoven shows here, true passion, we have drifted away from it just as we have done the same with our morals but at least, thanks to songs like this, we can remember humanity as it was and maybe one day we can come back to this.
Joseph E. A.
i’m not into this type of music, but this song? love it. its beautiful, mysterious, haunting, relaxing, and brings dreams of beautiful things. i heard a piece of it on a Hamtaro game a few years ago. i fell in love, playing it again and again. its just so mysterious and spooky. sometimes it puts me in a trance. i love it. @~> rose
makes me dream of a ballroom couple dancing under a dark, moonlit sky
O.o the girl tripped and they laughed. now looking in eachother’s eyes
the time on here is wrong. just a heads up.
موسيقى بتهوفين تعتبر اجمل ما سمعت في حياتي بحبها
Oh to live this for real. It’s a song of total solitude, a Heavenly composition. Music to put ones mind at ease and think of eternity in God’s peace. It is coming for real, but as we wait in patience this music is………….superb.
In this piece I feel a longing, a certain lonliness that needs comforting. Its searching for something in the beginning, but in the end, the movement of the piece shows that something was achieved or aquired. That’s how I interperet this. Comment if you’f like, but its personal perspective.
this piece is a timeless work of art.it is both beautiful,and melancholy.a haunting melody that stirs the soul.a true masterpeice.
I love Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Chaikowsky (if I even spelled that right because I never do)….Great site. I only wish I could pull the song because I’m looking for it for a class assignment. I bookmarked it anyway. Thanks!
I had to add another comment for those who don’t know, this piece is only the first movement of this song, there are three total, but this piece is the most popular.
This is one of my favorite pieces of music, and one of the few I can play. Miss Katrina noted this to be the first of three movements (it’s a Sonata. Meaning 3 or 4 sections or rather movements, separate in presentation, yet in perfect cadence as a whole.) Katrina’s quite correct (it’s also the only part I can play.) To my Chagrin the timing performed here is most definitely Off. Not so badly I think, that an untrained ear would notice. Look for the 3rd movement, it’ll knock your socks off. Takes exceptional talent to play, even badly. And DON’T GET ME WRONG; This presentation is by no means bad, It’s just a little off. The pianist is not in cadence, hesitating. Like a horse breaking stride (or gait), when the pace should be very even. The one on the website above contains a very good midi version, 1st movement is quite a bit better than what’s here, and the 2nd is VERY well played, but the 3rd (beginning at 7min.55sec. is sensational! The BEST I have ever heard! My hat off to the pianist. He/She is FIRST RATE!
I am a mystical african high priest who wrestles lions. Personally, this music is the best, and it makes me want to hug children, dance in the dark, and cut myself.
The original title of the sonata is “Quasi una fantasia” (It. almost a fantasy). The popular title of Moonlight Sonata actually didn’t come about until several years after Beethoven’s death. In 1836, German music critic, Ludwig Rellstab wrote that the sonata reminded him of the reflected moonlight off Lake Lucerne. Since then, Moonlight Sonata has remained the “official” unofficial title of the sonata.
Beethoven composed the famous Moonlight Sonata in 1801 and dedicated it to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, a pupil of Beethoven. Shortly after their first few lessons, the two fell in love. After dedicating the Moonlight Sonata, it is believed that Beethoven proposed to her. Although she was willing to accept Beethoven’s proposal, forbiddance by one of her parents prevented her from marrying him.
Think about that when you listen to this.
Bunch of know it alls. Just listen to the music. Who cares what the name would have been or was. I’m pretty sure its current name is here to stay. Great song, however I agree this performance is somewhat off.
Ppl need to stop being so stubborn, this is music, not todays bs that kids listen to, im 16 and a not no dam geek im jus sayin, LISTEN!!!!!!!!! One life to live ppl
The story behind the music, in the casses of classical pieces and especially Baroque pieces is just as important as the emotion it illicits in you. “Know it all” or not, it’s important to understand what’s driven a soul to create, as it increases your emotional response.
And, whether or not the lay-person calls this work “Moonlight Sonata” or not means nothing. It is NOT the name of the work. It’s like someone taking a song from one of the awful emo bands you like and calling it something completely different.
There. I feel better.
es finura que encanta, cierra los ojos, te transporta a un mundo de sueños.
what people have to do is understand…this man was death! could not hear and makes something this great? bravo mr.beethoven. bravo. truly you are the greatest
I meant to say deaf
I like this music it calms alot of ppl down and it also make them sleep
This music is beyond beautiful. I can’t find words to describe it.
i agree this is his magnum opus in my eyes so dark and absolutely brilliant.
WOW amazing Speechless!.
This song never fails to give me chills…
Ever since I was little, there has always been something about this song that has scared me. I love it now, but it still gives me the willies.
This song always makes me feel relaxed and peaceful. Right now i am writing a sonata and i got my inspiration from this piece.
Wonderful piece.
This is the point where all humanity unites as it should be.
I wish the composer were still alive to contribute his music to this world forever…
Wow this type of music really touches me on a very deep level, its almost asthout it speaks to your very soul. Ive been through alot in my life and this takes me to a level only surpasses by the love for music itself so bravo Beethoven bravo.
Poor Jesse L Martin. You’re ignorant, too ignorant to even realize it. I’m so grateful that people like you will only influence people like you. We are in no danger.
Useful website and interesting post. I really enjoy piano a lot. I have marked it to come back later. Imagination is more important than knowledge-Einstein
Worthwhile internet page and intriguing posting. I really enjoy piano a lot. I’ve marked it to return later. Even if you are on the right track- you will get run over if you just sit there
I’ve loved this piece since the first time the tune reached my ears when I was only eight years old (I’m 15 now). I adore classical music and I’m beginning to listen to it every time I study.
My sons are taking piano lessons and doing quite well. I’ve told them that the day either of them can play this piece for me I’ll die a happy man!
i love this music. althought i dont know how to play the piano, im am playing it. it is prety amazing what i can do. i hope i will be able to play the whole song when im older. ( im 13 now)
I’m taking this song to competition in the spring. Its not as easy as it sounds trust me. I’ve been playing for 10 months and started on this song 3 months into my playing. The only reason i’m not done with it is because i can’t read music since i’m a drummer so i’m working on my reading through this. Apparently its pretty amazing for a beginner to play this kind of music so i’m proud. I’m 15 right now. Can’t wait to finish it. It’s such a pain. So many triplets and octaves. It hurts my hands
My 12 year old is learning this song. He is on the 3rd page, no mistakes, after 3 weeks. Eat your heart out! I LOVE IT!!!
this is the greatest song ever also if u would like to talk in more detale or know of any good music stores in ardmoer oklahoma reach me at deathbladesmaster@yahoo.com
congrats on ur sons great job he is very skillful to have almost masterd this song
Hi!
Are you present at other site besides this page ?
it would be a good thing ))))
This is my very favorite ! Life is the most precious gift ! Priceless !!
Thank you for that wonderful verbal picture, Tenitachi.Very clever and funny.
i love this wonderfu music and i hope in day i can play it thank you so much
haha i love beethoven songs but i am trying to find it online and i cant find it for free
Beethoven was a tragic composer, but his music was quite lovely. It awakens much emotions. Thanks for this.
As Akira said Beethoven was a tragic composer but he could feel his his music inside of him.
I am very gratefull to have listened to his music, i love it and Mozart is a very good composer to, but Beethoven calms me down and relaxes me. I love his work but i wish he wasn’t deaf.
I loved his music and I would sit and listen to my older sister play it on the Piano, I was only 8 or 9 years old at the time. Now I will soon be 78 and there is as much magic in his music as it was once upon a time in Kentucky some 70 years ago… Akomi
To all those mastering the art of piano playing; sounds as you may well become great composers one day! To play without intsruction shows such dedication and self determination- good luck
I love Beethoven myself. I am currently 9.I already know how to play a portion of Beethoven’s Fur Elise.I cannot understand why some people don’t like Beethoven’s compositions.Whatever the reason I love Beethoven’s masterpieces.I currently cannot play Moonlight Sonata because it is beyond my skill of piano playing.I strongly believe that one day I will be good enough to play it… Maybe even better!!!!!!!!!!!
That and don’t use this to chat!
My favorite. I could listen to this forever. You can listen to all three movements at wikipedia. Here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Sonata_No._14_(Beethoven)
I’m not a big fan of classical music. I like some certain classical music, but never thought my mine would actually be at peace with Beethoven’s song “Moonlight Sonata.”
The major, Beethoven does me feel a cildren all the times that i listen him. I could listen it 4ever…
Beethoven’s music is so lovey and it makes you what to play the piano and write music so basicly to do the right thing………..<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
I love this song. I can play the first movement already.(I’m only 10 years old.)
I can play Fur Elise too. Im on level 9 in piano already.
Un placer para los oídos y el alma…
i absolutely loved Moonlight Sonata the first time i heard my music teacher play it at school. I have only started playing last year and have already learned to play the first movement. im 17, not bad for a beginner. classical music is amazing, and its true wen u start to play this piece it hurts ur hands, real bad til u get used to it. I LOVE IT!
Love reading the comments here from the young folks whose lives are influenced by not only listening to, but performing this kind of music. To me, there is nothing like the visceral feeling of performing a piece.
Especially ones like this which, in my opinion and apparently the opinion of this performer, aren’t meant to be rendered in some exact way that’s written on the pages. There are nuances here that can only be suggested in that language, but if you really feel the song, you feel how each passage really wants to be played. When you’re the player. Feeling how you feel at the time you’re playing it.
Long-winded way to say you should play this song however you want to. Own it. Slowly speed up the arpeggios on their way up, getting louder as you do, then quieter on the way down. Or the other way around. How you feel it at the time.
Well, play by “their” rules at competition. Tripelet, tripelet, tripelet…. Yawn….. Then make it your song when you play it anywhere else. I think it’s what Ludwig wanted us to do with it.
can’t believe how some peole say “i’m 9/10 (you fill here) yrs old and i can play the first movement” or “i can play the whole sonata”, etc. duh. masters of classical music such as beethoven, mozart, chopin, et al., they all were @ round their pre-teen ages when they composed their first sonatas/symphonies/preludes/concertos, etc. and @ the same time, many of’em were multi instrumentalists. were able to play piano, violin, etc.
and you think you can play piano or something, just because you’re 9 or 10 yrs old. duh. c’mon! don’t make me laugh!
btw, i ain’t saying it’s no good that they’re into classical music. but it’s nothing to mention bout here, no big deal. as i stated in my previous post, many of the great composers were child prodigies. so it’s no big deal to be able to play this sonata even if you’re a teenager. as i said, when masters like beethoven or mozart were 6 or 7, they’d already composed some of their masterpieces.
Aleksey : cierto lo que has dicho en cuanto a que muchos de los grandes compositores componían a corta edad y ejecutaban varios instrumentos, pero quisiera compartir contigo una reflexión:no todo el mundo tiene por qué ser un prodigio. Basta con amar la música. ¿Es que sólo valen los genios? Pienso que no. Me complace leer que muchachos y muchachas de corta edad estén interesados en esta clase de música. Es alentador, muy alentador.
Saludos cordiales
I love the song too it is very good. I am learning but I already know half of it just need to practice.
@María :
check out the first line of my second post above, i already mentioned that.
quoted from my second post(pay attention to the first line please):
“btw, i ain’t saying it’s no good that they’re into classical music. but it’s nothing to mention bout here, no big deal. as i stated in my previous post, many of the great composers were child prodigies. so it’s no big deal to be able to play this sonata even if you’re a teenager. as i said, when masters like beethoven or mozart were 6 or 7, they’d already composed some of their masterpieces.”
without the geniuses of the music, nothing would be as it’s right now. it’s geniuses who drew the boundaries (beyond our imagination) of the modern music of today’s world. and it’s geniuses who drew the path of the music of the future from those early days.
with all due respect, ordinary people w/ average talent just follow the path driven by the geniuses. one doesn’t necessarily have to be a composer to be “it”. think of Святослав Теофилович Рихтер (sviatoslav richter), he was a genius, he didn’t only play the music, but felt it & carried it to another dimension. put his soul into it. remember what glenn gould once said about richter in an interview (you can find it on youtube, i think)
best wishes & friendly shake your hands
aleksey gurbaghin
under capitalist system, the artisans are bounded w/ the giant chains of money and its dominance. in capitalist societies, artisans simply can’t create freely, because they’re not free from the pressure of the multinational record companies, not free from the musical taste of masses who are ophiumed w/ the poisonous pop culture of the capitalist society. in a society under the dominance of money, no one, let alone the artisans, is free. so, in so-called free countries of the western sphere, artisans create/produce/compose to live, to earn money to survive. but in socialist/communist society, as they were in the great soviet union, artisans live to create/produce/compose; not for money, not to please critics or ophiumed masses. becausein communist society, they’re literally free, free to create/compose. as stated by the great leader of the oppressed & exploited poeoples of the world, comrade LENIN: one cannot talk about real/pure freedom in a society where there’s the dominance of money.
lastly a qoutation from great musician and person sviatoslav richter:
“Music must be given to those who love it. I want to give free concerts; that’s the answer.”
Musicians are indeed free in communist countries. Unless their art takes them counter to their regime. Then comrade Lenin or Stalin drags them off in the night to put a bullet in their head.
Anyone is free to create music. There are no restraints. In a free society, if your work is music, and if people like your music, they buy it and you do well. If it is not well received, you starve until you come up with a better way to contribute to society.
Under a totalitarian regime, those with their boots upon the neck of the people determine what is considered art. One has only to seriously study the political undercurrents of Shostakovich’s motives behind the 7th Symphony and the fine line he danced to see that. It was not all about Hitler and his armies.
@ justin:
what you said is the lies and dirty propaganda told by the capitalists, esp. the us. neither lenin nor stalin did ever give an order to anyone to put a bullet in anybody’s head.
besides, we all know how awful, devastating things happened to the dissident artisans who lived in us during mccarthy era. and we all know and remember the segregation against the black people which occured in us from the foundation to the late 80′s in the us. we remember the ku klux klan, rodney king, and many more. even in late 60′s & 70′s black people were segregated from the so-called noble whites.
we know how imperialist system assassinated or exiled dissident intellectuals, artisans in capitalis countries thruout the ages.
we know how a rich minority live in wealth, while millions of poor people starve to death in africa, asia, and even in usa, like millions of homeless people.
art means nothing if it has nothing to say about the exploited masses.
I told my daughter that if she learned this song without help in one week she could quit taking lessons. She did it in three days. The lessons still continue.
the first time i heared the song i started likeing classical piano music more then any kind of music
Gente payasa presumida! Mi hijo la toca blah blah blah, yo toco esta cancion! blah blah blah… Y a quien le importa si la pueden tocar o no????
this piece truly touches the soul
I love this piece. I’ve begun to study it and I’m in love with it. Wonderful dynamics.
احب المقطوعات الكلاسيكية بلا اشتثناء وافضلها على سواهخا من المقطوعات الموسيقية على السواء
fannas……..i love them too
,,need we say no more? 
this song was decicated to my son at his funeral and it brings all the good and the bad memories back i miss him. but i will always have this song