The name lunar gave the sonata. "Moonlight Sonata"

The girl won the heart of the young composer and then brutally broke him. But it is to Juliet that we owe the fact that we can listen to the music of the best sonata of a brilliant composer that penetrates so deeply into the soul.

The full name of the sonata is “piano sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, op. 27, No. 2". "Lunar" is the name of the first movement of the sonata, this name was not given by Beethoven himself. The German music critic, poet and friend of Beethoven, Ludwig Relshtab compared the first movement of the sonata with "moonlight over Lake Firwaldstet" after the author's death. This "nickname" turned out to be so successful that it instantly became stronger all over the world, and until now most people believe that "Moonlight Sonata" is the real name.

The sonata has another name "Sonata - Arbor" or "Garden House Sonata". According to one version, Beethoven began to write it in the gazebo of the Brunvik aristocratic park in Korompa.

The music of the sonata seems simple, concise, clear, natural, while it is full of sensuality and goes “from heart to heart” (these are the words of Beethoven himself). Love, betrayal, hope, suffering, everything is reflected in the Moonlight Sonata. But one of the main ideas is the ability of a person to overcome difficulties, the ability to revive, this is the main theme of all the music of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was born in the German city of Bonn. The years of childhood can be called the most difficult in the life of the future composer. It was difficult for a proud and independent boy to survive the fact that his father, a rude and despotic man, noticing his son's musical talent, decided to use him for selfish purposes. Forcing little Ludwig to sit at the harpsichord from morning to night, he did not think that his son needed childhood so much. At the age of eight, Beethoven earned his first money - he gave a public concert, and by the age of twelve the boy was playing the violin and organ freely. Together with success, isolation, a need for solitude and unsociableness came to the young musician. At the same time, Nefe, his wise and kind mentor, appeared in the life of the future composer. It was he who instilled in the boy a sense of beauty, taught him to understand nature, art, to understand human life. Nefe taught Ludwig ancient languages, philosophy, literature, history, and ethics. Subsequently, being a deeply and broadly thinking person, Beethoven became an adherent of the principles of freedom, humanism, equality of all people.

In 1787 the young Beethoven left Bonn for Vienna.
Beautiful Vienna - a city of theaters and cathedrals, street orchestras and love serenades under the windows - won the heart of a young genius.

But it was there that the young musician was struck by deafness: at first the sounds seemed muffled to him, then he repeated the unheard phrases several times, then he realized that he was finally losing his hearing. “I drag out a bitter existence,” Beethoven wrote to his friend. - I'm deaf. With my craft, nothing can be more terrible ... Oh, if I got rid of this disease, I would embrace the whole world.

But the horror of progressive deafness was replaced by happiness from a meeting with a young aristocrat, an Italian by birth, Giulietta Guicciardi (1784-1856). Juliet, daughter of the wealthy and noble Count Guicciardi, arrived in Vienna in 1800. Then she was not even seventeen, but the love of life and charm of a young girl conquered the thirty-year-old composer, and he immediately confessed to his friends that he fell in love passionately and passionately. He was sure that the same tender feelings arose in the heart of a mocking coquette. In a letter to his friend, Beethoven emphasized: "This wonderful girl is so much loved by me and loves me that I observe a striking change in myself precisely because of her."

Juliet Guicciardi (1784-1856)
A few months after their first meeting, Beethoven invited Juliet to take some free piano lessons from him. She gladly accepted this offer, and in return for such a generous gift, she presented her teacher with several shirts embroidered by her. Beethoven was a strict teacher. When he didn’t like Juliet’s playing, he was annoyed and threw notes on the floor, defiantly turned away from the girl, and she silently collected notebooks from the floor. Six months later, at the peak of his feelings, Beethoven began to create a new sonata, which after his death will be called "Moon". It is dedicated to the Countess Guicciardi and was started in a state of great love, delight and hope.

In turmoil in October 1802, Beethoven left Vienna and went to Heiligenstadt, where he wrote the famous “Heiligenstadt Testament”: “Oh, you people who think that I am malicious, stubborn, ill-mannered - how unfair you are to me; you do not know the secret reason for what you think. Since childhood, I have been predisposed in my heart and mind to a tender feeling of kindness, I have always been ready to do great things. But just think that for six years now I have been in an unfortunate state ... I am completely deaf ... "
Fear, the collapse of hopes give rise to thoughts of suicide in the composer. But Beethoven gathered his strength and decided to start a new life and, in almost absolute deafness, created great masterpieces.

Several years passed, and 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, torn by numerous disappointments. At the end of his life, the composer will write: “I was very loved by her and more than ever, was her husband ...”

Brunswick sisters Teresa (2) and Josephine (3)

Trying to permanently erase his beloved from his memory, the composer met with other women. Once, when he saw the beautiful Josephine Brunswick, he immediately confessed his love to her, but in response he received only a polite, but unequivocal refusal. Then, in desperation, Beethoven proposed to Josephine's older sister, Teresa. But she did the same, inventing a beautiful fairy tale about the impossibility of meeting with the composer.

The genius repeatedly recalled how women humiliated him. One day, a young singer from the Viennese theater, when asked to meet with her, replied with a sneer that “the composer is so ugly in appearance, and besides, it seems too strange to her” that she did not intend to meet with him. Ludwig van Beethoven really did not look after his appearance, often remained untidy. It is unlikely that he could be called independent in everyday life, he needed the constant care of a woman. When Juliet Guicciardi, while still a student of the maestro, and noticing that Beethoven's silk bow was not tied in such a way, tied it up, kissing him on the forehead, the composer did not take off this bow and did not change clothes for several weeks, until his friends hinted at his not quite fresh look suit.

Too sincere and open, contemptuous of hypocrisy and servility, Beethoven often seemed rude and ill-mannered. Often he expressed himself obscenely, which is why many considered him a plebeian and an ignorant boor, although the composer simply spoke the truth.

In the autumn of 1826, Beethoven fell ill. Exhausting treatment, three complex operations could not put the composer on his feet. All winter he, without getting out of bed, absolutely deaf, suffered from the fact that ... he could not continue to work.
The last years of the composer's life are even more difficult than the first. He is completely deaf, he is haunted by loneliness, illness, poverty. Family life did not work out. He gives all his unspent love to his nephew, who could replace his son, but grew up as a deceitful, two-faced loafer and spendthrift, who shortened Beethoven's life.
The composer died of a serious, painful illness on March 26, 1827.

Beethoven's grave in Vienna
After his death, a letter “To an immortal beloved” was found in a desk drawer (So Beethoven titled the letter himself (A.R. Sardaryan): “My angel, my everything, my self ... Why is deep sadness where necessity reigns? Is it our love can only endure at the cost of sacrifice by refusing to be full, can't you change the situation in which you are not completely mine and I am not completely yours? What a life! Without you! So close! So far! What longing and tears for you - you - you, my life, my everything ... ".

Many will then argue about who exactly the message is addressed to. But a small fact points specifically to Juliet Guicciardi: next to the letter was kept a tiny portrait of Beethoven's beloved, made by an unknown master

Beethoven's famous Moonlight Sonata appeared in 1801. In those years, the composer experienced not the best time in his life. On the one hand, he was successful and popular, his works became more and more 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's soul was tormented by deep feelings - he began to lose his hearing. This was a terrible disaster 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, almost visually imagined all the subtleties of rich orchestral colors.

The causes of the illness remain unknown. Perhaps it was an excessive strain of hearing, or a cold and inflammation of the ear nerve. Be that as it may, unbearable tinnitus tormented Beethoven day and night, and the whole 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 the high sounds of the orchestra playing, he could hardly distinguish the words of the people who spoke to him. He hid his deafness from friends and relatives and tried to be less social. At this time, the 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 down to him to quench his anxieties and sorrows. He was captivated by the cheerfulness, good nature and sociability of the young student. Beethoven and Juliet began a relationship, and he got a taste for life. He began to go out more often, he again learned to enjoy simple things - music, the sun, the smile of his beloved. Beethoven dreamed that someday 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 did not come true. The windy and frivolous coquette started an affair with the aristocratic Count Robert Gallenberg. She became uninterested in a deaf, unsecured composer from a simple family. Very soon Juliet became the 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 fury. 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 carefree Juliet. In it, he wrote about how much she meant to him, and what longing came 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 Relshtab, called the "Moonlight" sonata after his death. At the sounds of the sonata, he imagined the quiet expanse of the lake and the lonely boat floating on it under the unsteady light of the moon.

This sonata, composed in 1801 and published in 1802, is dedicated to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The popular and surprisingly strong name "lunar" was assigned to the sonata at the initiative of the poet Ludwig Relshtab, who compared the music of the first part of the sonata with the landscape of Lake Firwaldstet on a moonlit night.

Against such a name for the sonata was objected more than once. Vigorously protested, in particular, A. Rubinshtein. “Moonlight,” he wrote, “requires in the musical image something dreamy, melancholy, thoughtful, peaceful, generally gently shining. The very first part of the cis-moll sonata is tragic from the first to the last note (the minor mode also hints at this) and thus represents the sky covered with clouds - a gloomy spiritual mood; the last part is stormy, passionate and, therefore, expressing something completely opposite to meek light. Only a small second part allows a momentary moonlight ... "

Nevertheless, the name "lunar" has remained unshakable to this day - it was already justified by the possibility of one poetic word to designate a work so beloved by the audience, without resorting to indicating the opus, number and key.

It is known that the reason for composing the sonata op. 27 No. 2 was Beethoven's relationship with his lover, Giulietta Guicciardi. It was, apparently, the first deep love passion of Beethoven, accompanied by an equally deep disappointment.

Beethoven met Juliet (who came from Italy) at the end of 1800. The heyday of love dates back to 1801. Back in November of this year, Beethoven wrote to Wegeler about Juliet: "she loves me, and I love her." But already at the beginning of 1802, Juliet inclined her sympathies to an empty man and mediocre composer, Count Robert Gallenberg. (The wedding of Juliet and Gallenberg took place on November 3, 1803).

On October 6, 1802, Beethoven wrote the famous "Heiligenstadt Testament" - a tragic document of his life, in which desperate thoughts about hearing loss are combined with the bitterness of deceived love. (The further moral decline of Juliet Guicciardi, who stooped to debauchery and espionage, is succinctly and vividly depicted by Romain Rolland (see R. Rolland. Beethoven. Les grandes epoques creatrices. Le chant de la resurrection. Paris, 1937, pp. 570-571). ).

The object of Beethoven's passionate affection turned out to be completely unworthy. But Beethoven's genius, inspired by love, created an amazing work that expressed the drama of emotions and impulses of feeling with an unusually strong and generalized expression. Therefore, it would be wrong to consider Giulietta Guicciardi as the heroine of the “moonlight” sonata. She only seemed to be such to the consciousness of Beethoven, blinded by love. But in reality she turned out to be only a model, exalted by the work of the great artist.

For 210 years of its existence, the “moon” sonata has evoked and still evokes the delight of musicians and everyone who loves music. This sonata, in particular, was highly valued by Chopin and Liszt (the latter made himself especially famous for its brilliant performance). Even Berlioz, generally speaking rather indifferent to piano music, found poetry in the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata, inexpressible in human words.

In Russia, the "moonlight" sonata has always enjoyed and continues to enjoy the most ardent recognition and love. When Lenz, starting to evaluate the “moonlight” sonata, pays tribute to a lot of lyrical digressions and memoirs, one senses in this an unusual excitement of the critic, which prevents him from concentrating on the analysis of the subject.

Ulybyshev ranks the “moon” sonata among the works marked with the “seal of immortality”, possessing “the rarest and most beautiful of privileges - the privilege of being equally liked by the initiates and the profane, being liked as long as there are ears to hear and hearts to love and suffer".

Serov called the Moonlight Sonata "one of Beethoven's most inspirational sonatas".

Characteristic are V. Stasov's reminiscences of his younger years, when he and Serov enthusiastically perceived Liszt's performance of the Moonlight Sonata. “It was,” Stasov writes in his memoirs “School of Jurisprudence forty years ago,” “the very “dramatic music” that Serov and I dreamed about most in those days and exchanged thoughts every minute in our correspondence, considering it to be that form into which all music must finally turn. It seemed to me that in this sonata there are a number of scenes, a tragic drama: “in the 1st part - a dreamy meek love and a state of mind, at times filled with gloomy forebodings; further, in the second part (in Scherzo) - a state of mind is depicted more calm, even playful - hope is reborn; finally, in the third part - despair, jealousy rages, and everything ends with a dagger and death).

Stasov experienced similar impressions from the “moonlight” sonata later, listening to the game of A. Rubinstein: “... suddenly quiet, important sounds rushed as if from some invisible spiritual depths, from afar, from afar. Some were sad, full of endless sadness, others were thoughtful, crowded memories, forebodings of terrible expectations ... I was infinitely happy in those moments and only remembered to myself how 47 years earlier, in 1842, I heard this most great sonata performed by Liszt, in his third Petersburg concert... and now, after so many years, I again see another brilliant musician and again hear this great sonata, this wonderful drama, with love, jealousy and a formidable blow of a dagger at the end - again I am happy and drunk on music and poetry."

The "Moonlight" sonata also entered Russian fiction. So, for example, this sonata is played at the time of cordial relations with her husband by the heroine of Leo Tolstoy's "Family Happiness" (chapters I and IX).

Naturally, Romain Rolland, an inspired researcher of the spiritual world and Beethoven's work, devoted quite a few statements to the "moon" sonata.

Romain Rolland aptly characterizes the circle of images of the sonata, linking them with Beethoven's early disappointment in Juliet: "The illusion did not last long, and already in the sonata one can see more suffering and anger than love." Calling the "moon" sonata "gloomy and fiery", Romain Rolland very correctly deduces its form from the content, shows that freedom is combined in the sonata with harmony, that "the miracle of art and the heart, the feeling manifests itself here as a powerful builder. The unity that the artist does not seek in the architectonic laws of a given passage or musical genre, he finds in the laws of his own passion. Let's add - and in the knowledge on personal experience of the laws of passionate experiences in general.

In realistic psychologism, the “moon” sonata is the most important reason for its popularity. And, of course, B. V. Asafiev was right when he wrote: “The emotional tone of this sonata is filled with strength and romantic pathos. The music, nervous and excited, now flares up with a bright flame, then collapses in agonizing despair. Melody sings, crying. The deep cordiality inherent in the described sonata makes it one of the most beloved and most accessible. It is difficult not to be influenced by such sincere music - the expressor of direct feelings.

The “Moonlight” sonata is a brilliant proof of the position of aesthetics that the form is subordinate to the content, that the content creates, crystallizes the form. The power of experience gives rise to the persuasiveness of logic. And it is not for nothing that Beethoven achieves a brilliant synthesis of those most important factors in the “moonlight” sonata, which appear more isolated in previous sonatas. These factors are: 1) deep drama, 2) thematic integrity and 3) the continuity of the development of the "action" from the first part to the final inclusive (crescendo forms).

First part(Adagio sostenuto, cis-moll) is written in a special form. Two-partness is complicated here by the introduction of advanced development elements and extensive preparation of the reprise. All this partly brings the form of this Adagio closer to sonata form.

In the music of the first part, Ulybyshev saw the "heartbreaking sadness" of lonely love, like "fire without food." Romain Rolland is also inclined to interpret the first movement in the spirit of melancholy, lamentations and sobs.

We think that such an interpretation is one-sided, and that Stasov was much more right (see above).

The music of the first part is emotionally rich. Here and calm contemplation, and sadness, and moments of bright faith, and woeful doubts, and restrained impulses, and heavy forebodings. All this is brilliantly expressed by Beethoven within the general boundaries of concentrated thought. This is the beginning of every deep and demanding feeling - it hopes, it worries, it penetrates with trepidation into its own fullness, into the power of experience over the soul. Recognition to oneself and an excited thought about how to be, what to do.

Beethoven finds unusually expressive means of embodying such an idea.

Constant triplets of harmonic tones are designed to convey that sound background of monotonous external impressions that envelops the thoughts and feelings of a deeply thoughtful person.

One can hardly doubt that Beethoven, a passionate admirer of nature, gave images of his emotional unrest against the backdrop of a quiet, calm, monotonous-sounding landscape in the first part of the "lunar" part. Therefore, the music of the first part is easily associated with the nocturne genre (apparently, an understanding of the special poetic qualities of the night, when silence deepens and sharpens the ability to dream, has already taken shape!).

The very first bars of the “moonlight” sonata are a very vivid example of the “organism” of Beethoven's pianism. But this is not a church organ, but the organ of nature, the full, solemn sounds of her peaceful bosom.

Harmony sings from the very beginning - this is the secret of the exclusive intonational unity of all music. The appearance of quiet, hidden sol-sharp(“romantic” fifth of the tonic!) in the right hand (bars 5-6) is a superbly found intonation of persistent, haunting thought. An affectionate chant grows out of it (bars 7-9), leading to E-major. But this bright dream is short-lived - from t. 10 (E-minor) the music is darkened again.

However, elements of will, ripening determination begin to slip in it. They, in turn, disappear with a turn to B minor (p. 15), where the accents then stand out. do-becara(tt. 16 and 18), like a timid request.

The music faded, but only to rise again. Carrying out the theme in F sharp minor (from v. 23) is a new stage. The element of will grows stronger, the emotion becomes stronger and more courageous - but here new doubts and reflections are on its way. Such is the whole period of the organ point of the octave sol-sharp in the bass leading to a reprise in C-sharp minor. At this organ point, soft accents of fourths are first heard (bars 28-32). Then the thematic element temporarily disappears: the former harmonic background came to the fore - as if there was confusion in the harmonious train of thought, and their thread broke. Balance is gradually restored, and the reprise in C-sharp minor indicates the persistence, constancy, insurmountability of the initial circle of experiences.

So, in the first part of the Adagio, Beethoven gives a whole series of shades and tendencies of the main emotion. Changes in harmonic colors, register contrasts, compressions and expansions rhythmically contribute to the convexity of all these shades and trends.

In the second part of the Adagio, the circle of images is the same, but the stage of development is different. E major is now held longer (bars 46-48), and the appearance in it of the characteristic punctuated figurine of the theme seems to promise a bright hope. The presentation as a whole is dynamically compressed. If at the beginning of the Adagio the melody took twenty-two measures to rise from G-sharp of the first octave to E of the second octave, now, in the reprise, the melody overcomes this distance in just seven measures. Such an acceleration in the pace of development is also accompanied by the appearance of new volitional elements of intonation. But the outcome has not been found, and indeed cannot, must not be found (after all, this is only the first part!). The coda, with its sound of haunting punctuated figures in the bass, with immersion in a low register, in a deaf and vague pianissimo, sets off indecision and mystery. Feeling has become aware of its depth and inevitability - but it stands bewildered before the fact and must turn to the outside in order to overcome contemplation.

It is precisely this "turning outwards" that gives The second part(Allegretto, Des-dur).

Liszt characterized this part as "a flower between two abysses" - a comparison that is poetically brilliant, but still superficial!

Nagel saw in the second part "a picture of real life, fluttering with charming images around the dreamer." This, I think, is closer to the truth, but not enough to understand the plot core of the sonata.

Romain Rolland refrains from a refined characterization of Allegretto and confines himself to saying that “everyone can accurately assess the desired effect achieved by this small picture, placed precisely in this place in the work. This playful, smiling grace must inevitably cause - and does cause - an increase in grief; her appearance turns the soul, at first weeping and depressed, into a fury of passion.

We saw above that Romain Rolland boldly tried to interpret the previous sonata (the first of the same opus) as a portrait of Princess Liechtenstein. It is not clear why in this case he refrains from the naturally arising thought that the Allegretto of the “moonlight” sonata is directly connected with the image of Giulietta Guicciardi.

Having accepted this possibility (it seems natural to us), we will also understand the intention of the entire sonata opus - that is, both sonatas with a common subtitle "quasi una Fantasia". Drawing the secular superficiality of the spiritual image of Princess Liechtenstein, Beethoven ends with the tearing off of secular masks and the loud laughter of the finale. In the "lunar" this is not possible, since love has deeply wounded the heart.

But thought and will do not give up their positions. In Allegretto "lunar" created an extremely life image, combining charm with frivolity, seeming cordiality with indifferent coquetry. Even Liszt noted the extreme difficulty of the perfect performance of this part in view of its extreme rhythmic capriciousness. In fact, already the first four measures contain a contrast of intonations of affectionate and mocking. And then - continuous emotional turns, as if teasing and not bringing the desired satisfaction.

The tense expectation of the end of the first part of Adagio is replaced as if by the fall of the veil. And what? The soul is in the power of charm, but at the same time, it is aware of its fragility and deceit every moment.

When, after the inspired, gloomy song Adagio sostenuto, gracefully whimsical figures of Allegretto sound, it is difficult to get rid of the dual feeling. Graceful music attracts, but at the same time, it seems unworthy of just experienced. In this contrast - the amazing genius of Beethoven's design and implementation. A few words about the place of Allegretto in the structure of the whole. This is in essence delayed scherzo, and its purpose, among other things, is to serve as a link in the three phases of the movement, the transition from the slow reflection of the first movement to the storm of the finale.

The final(Presto agitato, cis-moll) has long been surprising with the irrepressible energy of his emotions. Lenz compared it "with a stream of burning lava", Ulybyshev called it "a masterpiece of ardent expressiveness".

Romain Rolland speaks of the "immortal explosion of the final presto agitato", of the "wild night storm", of the "giant picture of the soul".

The finale completes the "moonlight" sonata extremely strongly, giving not a decline (as even in the "pathetic" sonata), but a great increase in tension and drama.

It is not difficult to notice the close intonational connections of the finale with the first movement - they play a special role in the active harmonic figurations (background of the first movement, both themes of the finale), in the ostinato rhythmic background. But the contrast of emotions is the maximum.

Nothing equal to the scope of these seething waves of arpeggios with loud blows on the tops of their crests can be found in Beethoven's earlier sonatas - not to mention Haydn or Mozart.

The entire first theme of the finale is an image of that extreme degree of excitement when a person is completely incapable of reasoning, when he does not even distinguish between the boundaries of the external and internal world. Therefore, there is no clearly expressed thematism, but only uncontrollable boiling and explosions of passions capable of the most unexpected antics (Romain Rolland's definition is apt, according to which in bars 9-14 - "fury, hardened and, as it were, stamping their feet"). Fermata v. 14 is very truthful: so suddenly for a moment a person stops in his impulse, in order to then again surrender to him.

The secondary part (vol. 21, etc.) is a new phase. The roar of the sixteenths went into the bass, became the background, and the theme of the right hand testifies to the appearance of a strong-willed beginning.

More than once it was said and written about the historical connections of Beethoven's music with the music of his immediate predecessors. These connections are completely undeniable. But here is an example of how an innovative artist rethinks traditions. The following excerpt from the side game of the "lunar" finale:

in its "context" expresses swiftness and determination. Is it not indicative to compare with him the intonations of Haydn and Mozart's sonatas, similar in terms of speed, but different in character (example 51 - from the second part of the Haydn sonata Es-dur; example 52 - from the first part of the Mozart sonata C-dur; example 53 - from the first part sonatas by Mozart in B-dur) (Haydn here (as in a number of other cases) is closer to Beethoven, more straightforward; Mozart is more gallant.):

Such is the constant rethinking of the intonational traditions widely used by Beethoven.

The further development of the secondary party strengthens the strong-willed, organizing element. True, in the beats of sustained chords and in the running of the whirling scales (m. 33, etc.), passion again recklessly rages. However, in the final game, a preliminary denouement is planned.

The first section of the final part (bars 43-56) with its chased rhythm of eighths (which replaced the sixteenths) (Romain Rolland very rightly points out the mistake of the publishers, who replaced (contrary to the author's instructions) here, as well as in the bass accompaniment of the beginning of the movement, the stress marks with dots (R. Rolland, Volume 7, pp. 125-126).) full of irresistible impulse (this is the determination of passion). And in the second section (v. 57, etc.) an element of sublime reconciliation appears (in the melody - a fifth of the tonic, which also dominated in the dotted group of the first part!). At the same time, the returned rhythmic background of the sixteenths maintains the necessary pace of movement (which would inevitably fall if it calmed down against the background of the eighths).

It should be especially noted that the end of the exposition directly (activation of the background, modulation) flows into its repetition, and secondarily into development. This is an essential point. None of Beethoven's earlier allegro sonatas in Beethoven's piano sonatas has such a dynamic and direct merging of exposition with development, although in some places there are prerequisites, "outlines" of such continuity. If the first parts of sonatas Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 (as well as the last parts of sonatas Nos. 5 and 6 and the second part of sonata No. 11) are completely "fenced off" from further exposure, then in the first movements of sonatas Nos. 7, 8, 9 have already outlined close, direct connections between expositions and developments (although the dynamics of the transition, characteristic of the third movement of the “moonlight” sonata, is absent everywhere). Turning for comparison to parts of Haydn's and Mozart's clavier sonatas (written in sonata form), we will see that there the “fencing off” of the exposition by the cadence from the subsequent one is a strict law, and isolated cases of its violation are dynamically neutral. Thus, it is impossible not to recognize Beethoven as an innovator on the way of dynamically overcoming the "absolute" boundaries of exposition and development; this important innovative trend is confirmed by later sonatas.

In the development of the finale, along with the variation of the previous elements, new expressive factors play a role. Thus, the holding of a side part in the left hand acquires, thanks to the lengthening of the thematic period, features of slowness, prudence. The music of descending sequences on the organ point of the dominant in C-sharp minor at the end of development is also deliberately restrained. All these are subtle psychological details that paint a picture of a passion that seeks rational restraint. However, after finishing the development of the chords, the pianissimo kick of the beginning of the reprise (This unexpected "hit", again, is innovative. Later, Beethoven achieved even more stunning dynamic contrasts - in the first and last parts of the "Appassionata".) proclaims that all such attempts are deceptive.

Compressing the first section of the reprise (to the side part) speeds up the action and sets the stage for further expansion.

It is significant to compare the intonations of the first section of the final part of the reprise (from p. 137 - a continuous movement of eighths) with the corresponding section of the exposition. In tt. 49-56 the movements of the upper voice of the group of eighths are directed first down and then up. In tt. 143-150 movements first give fractures (down - up, down - up), and then fall off. This gives the music a more dramatic character than before. The calming of the second section of the final part, however, does not complete the sonata.

The return of the first theme (code) expresses the indestructibility, constancy of passion, and in the rumble of the thirty-second passages ascending and freezing on chords (bars 163-166), its paroxysm is given. But this is not all.

A new wave, starting with a quiet side part in the bass and leading to stormy rumbles of arpeggios (three types of subdominants prepare a cadence!), breaks off into a trill, a short cadenza (It is curious that the turns of the falling passages of the eighth cadenza after the trill (before the two-bar Adagio) are almost literally reproduced in Chopin's cis-moll phantasy-impromptu. By the way, these two pieces (the "lunar" finale and the phantasy-impromptu) can serve as comparative examples of two historical stages of development of musical thinking. The melodic lines of the "lunar" finale are strict lines of harmonic figuration. The melodic lines of fantasy-impromptu are the lines of ornamental beats of triads by side chromatic tones. But in the specified passage of the cadence, Beethoven's historical connection with Chopin is outlined. Beethoven himself later pays generous tribute similar tricks.) and two deep bass octaves (Adagio). This is the exhaustion of passion that has reached its highest limits. In the final tempo I - an echo of a futile attempt to find reconciliation. The subsequent avalanche of arpeggios only says that the spirit is alive and powerful, despite all the painful trials (Later, Beethoven used this extremely expressive innovation even more vividly in the code of the finale of the Appassionata. Chopin tragically rethought this technique in the code of the fourth ballad.).

The figurative meaning of the finale of the “moonlight” sonata is in the grandiose battle of emotion and will, in the great anger of the soul, which fails to master its passions. Not a trace of the enthusiastically disturbing daydreaming of the first part and the deceptive illusions of the second part remained. But passion and suffering dug into the soul with a force never before known.

The final victory has not yet been won. In a wild battle, experiences and will, passion and reason were closely, inextricably intertwined with each other. And the code of the final does not give a denouement, it only affirms the continuation of the struggle.

But if victory is not achieved in the final, then there is no bitterness, no reconciliation. The grandiose strength, the mighty individuality of the hero appear in the very impetuosity and indefatigability of his experiences. In the "moonlight" sonata, both the theatricality of the "pathetic" and the external heroism of the sonata op. are overcome, left behind. 22. The huge step of the “moon” sonata to the deepest humanity, to the highest truthfulness of musical images determined its milestone significance.

All musical quotations are given according to the edition: Beethoven. Sonatas for piano. M., Muzgiz, 1946 (edited by F. Lamond), in two volumes. Bar numbering is also given in this edition.

At the very end of the 18th century, Ludwig van Beethoven was in his prime, he was incredibly popular, led an active social life, he could rightfully be called the idol of the youth of that time. But one circumstance began to overshadow the life of the composer - a gradually fading ear. “I drag out a bitter existence,” Beethoven wrote to his friend. “I am deaf. With my craft, nothing can be more terrible ... Oh, if I got rid of this disease, I would embrace the whole world.

In 1800, Beethoven met the Guicciardi aristocrats who had come from Italy to Vienna. The daughter of a respectable family, sixteen-year-old Juliet, had good musical abilities and wished to take piano lessons from the idol of the Viennese aristocracy. Beethoven does not take payment from 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, he was annoyed and threw notes on the floor, defiantly turned away from the girl, and she silently collected notebooks from the floor.
Juliette was pretty, young, outgoing and flirtatious with her 30-year-old teacher. And Beethoven succumbed to her charm. “Now I am more often in society, and therefore my life has become more cheerful,” he wrote to Franz Wegeler in November 1800. - This change was made in me by a sweet, charming girl who loves me, and whom I love. I again have bright moments, and I come to the conclusion 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 fact that he would give concerts, achieve independence, and then marriage would become possible.

He spent the summer of 1801 in Hungary at the estate of the Hungarian counts of Brunswick, relatives of Juliet's mother, in Korompa. The summer spent with his beloved was the happiest time for Beethoven.
At the peak of his feelings, the composer set about creating a new sonata. The arbor, in which, according to legend, Beethoven composed magical music, has been preserved to this day. In the homeland of the work, in Austria, it is known under the name "Garden House Sonata" or "Sonata - Arbor".

The sonata began in a state of 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 conversational notebooks, talking with Schindler, wrote: “I was very loved by her and more than ever, 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 was finishing his masterpiece in anger, fury and the strongest resentment: from the first months of 1802, the windy 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, Juliet Gallenberg seemed brilliant.
The whole storm of human emotions that was in Beethoven's soul at that time, the composer conveys in his sonata. These are grief, doubts, jealousy, doom, passion, hope, longing, tenderness and, of course, love.

Beethoven and Juliet broke up. And even later, the composer received a letter. It ended with cruel words: “I am leaving a genius who has already won, to a genius who is still fighting for recognition. I want to be his guardian angel." It was a "double blow" - as a man and as a musician. In 1803 Giulietta Guicciardi married Gallenberg and left for Italy.
In 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 malicious, stubborn, ill-mannered - how unfair to me; you do not know the secret reason for what you think. Since childhood, I have been predisposed in my heart and mind to a tender feeling of kindness, I have always been ready to do great things. But just think that for six years now I have been in an unfortunate state ... I am completely deaf ... "
Fear, the collapse of hopes give rise to thoughts of suicide in the composer. But Beethoven gathered his strength, decided to start a new life and, in almost absolute deafness, created great masterpieces.
In 1821 Juliet returned to Austria and came to live with Beethoven. 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, torn 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 higher?”

In the autumn of 1826, Beethoven fell ill. Exhausting treatment, three complex operations could not put the composer on his feet. Throughout the winter, without getting out of bed, he was completely deaf, tormented by the fact that ... 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 drawer of the wardrobe (this is how Beethoven titled the letter himself): “My angel, my everything, my self ... Why is there deep sadness where necessity reigns? Can our love endure only at the cost of sacrifice by refusing to be full, can't you change the situation in which you are not wholly mine and I am not wholly yours? What a life! Without you! So close! So far! What longing and tears for you - you - you, my life, my everything ... ”Many will then argue about who exactly the message is addressed to. But a small fact points specifically to Juliet Guicciardi: next to the letter was 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 an immortal masterpiece.
“The monument to love, which he wanted to create with this sonata, very naturally turned into a mausoleum. For a man like Beethoven, love could not be anything else than hope beyond the grave and sorrow, spiritual mourning here on earth ”(Alexander Serov, composer and music critic).
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 Relshtab, one of Beethoven's friends, saw in the first part of the work the image of Lake Lucerne on a quiet night, with moonlight reflecting from the surface with overflows. He suggested the name "Lunar". Years will pass, and the first measured part of the work: “Adagio sonata N 14 quasi una fantasia”, will become known to the whole world under the name “Moonlight Sonata”.

A work of genius by the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight Sonata).

Beethoven's sonata, written in 1801, originally had a rather prosaic title - Piano Sonata No. 14. But in 1832, the German music critic Ludwig Rellstab compared the sonata to the moon shining over Lake Lucerne. So this composition received the now widely known name - “Moonlight Sonata”. The composer himself was no longer alive by that time ...

At the very end of the 18th century, Beethoven was in his prime, he was incredibly popular, led an active social life, he could rightfully be called the idol of the youth of that time. But one circumstance began to overshadow the life of the composer - gradually fading hearing.

Suffering from an illness, Beethoven stopped going out and became practically a recluse. He was overcome by physical torment: constant incurable tinnitus. In addition, the composer also experienced mental anguish due to the approaching deafness: “What will happen to me?” he wrote to his friend.

In 1800, Beethoven met the Guicciardi aristocrats who had come from Italy to Vienna. The daughter of a respectable family, sixteen-year-old Juliet, struck the composer at first sight. Soon, Beethoven began to give the girl piano lessons, moreover, completely free of charge. Juliet had good musical abilities and grasped all his advice on the fly. She was pretty, young, outgoing and flirtatious with her 30-year-old teacher.

Beethoven fell in love, sincerely, with all the passion of his nature. He fell in love for the first time, and his soul was full of pure joy and bright hope. He is not young! But she, as it seemed to him, is perfection, and can become for him a consolation in illness, joy in everyday life and a muse in creativity. Beethoven is seriously considering marrying Juliet, because she is nice to him and encourages his feelings.

True, more and more often the composer feels helpless due to progressive hearing loss, his financial situation is unstable, he does not have a title or “blue blood” (his father is a court musician, and his mother is the daughter of a court chef), and Juliet is an aristocrat ! In addition, his beloved begins to give preference to Count Gallenberg.

The whole storm of human emotions that was in his soul at that time, the composer conveys in the Moonlight Sonata. These are grief, doubts, jealousy, doom, passion, hope, longing, tenderness and, of course, love.

The strength of the feelings that he experienced during the creation of the masterpiece is shown by the events that occurred after it was written. Juliet, forgetting about Beethoven, agreed to become the wife of Count Gallenberg, who was also a mediocre composer. And, apparently deciding to play the adult temptress, she finally sent a letter to Beethoven, in which she said: “I am leaving one genius for another.” It was a cruel "double blow" - as a man and as a musician.

The composer, in search of loneliness, torn by the feelings of a rejected lover, left for the estate of his friend Maria Erdedi. For three days and three nights he wandered through the forest. When they found him in a remote thicket, exhausted from hunger, he could not even speak ...

Beethoven wrote a sonata in 1800-1801, calling it quasi una Fantasia - that is, "in the spirit of fantasy." Its first edition dates from 1802 and is dedicated to Giulietta Guicciardi. At first it was simply Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, which consisted of three movements - Adagio, Allegro and Finale. In 1832, the German poet Ludwig Relstab compared the first movement to a walk on a moon-silvered lake. Years will pass, and the first measured part of the work will become a hit of all times and peoples. And, probably, for the sake of convenience, the Adagio Sonata No. 14 quasi una Fantasia will be replaced by the majority of the population simply with the Moonlight Sonata.

Six months after writing the sonata, on October 6, 1802, Beethoven writes the "Heiligenstadt testament" in desperation. Some Beethoven scholars believe that it was Countess Guicciardi who the composer addressed the letter, known as the letter "to the immortal beloved." It was discovered after Beethoven's death in a secret drawer of his wardrobe. Beethoven kept a miniature portrait of Juliet along with this letter and the "Heiligenstadt testament". The anguish of unrequited love, the agony of hearing loss - all this was expressed by the composer in the Moonlight Sonata.

This is how a great work was born: in the throes of love, throwing, ecstasy and desolation. But it was probably worth it. Beethoven later still experienced a bright feeling for another woman. And Juliet, by the way, according to one of the versions, later realized the inaccuracy of her calculations. And, realizing the genius of Beethoven, she came to him and begged for his forgiveness. However, he never forgave her...

"Moonlight Sonata" performed by Stephen Sharpe Nelson on the electric cello.