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Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” I couldn’t get more Melodik of a Monday than by interpreting Beethoven’s melodic masterpiece: “Moonlight Sonata”. While it is an incredibly delicate and evocative piece that literally draws you in, the rock side of me always heard the power that this composition thinly veiled with it’s sensitive presentation. There are some incredibly heavy sections boiling underneath just waiting to escape! And let it escape I did on the One Dark Night... A Rock Symphony of the Macabre! release as well as a featured piece in the live performances. What a melodic masterpiece Beethoven has gifted us with! I hope you enjoy the rocked up version (it might not be for everyone, but I had a fun time rearranging it)! Backing tracks and downloadable music here: CDs and merch bundles: Stream it here: Interested in web lessons with Neil? Some details on this courtesy of Wikipedia: The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The popular name Moonlight Sonata goes back to a critic's remark after Beethoven's death. The piece is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano, and it was a popular favourite even in his own day. Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata in his early thirties, after he had finished with some commissioned work; there is no evidence that he was commissioned to write this sonata. The name Moonlight Sonata comes from remarks made by the German music critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab. In 1832, five years after Beethoven's death, Rellstab likened the effect of the first movement to that of moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne. Within ten years, the name “Moonlight Sonata“ (“Mondscheinsonate“ in German) was being used in German and English publications. Later in the nineteenth century, the sonata was universally known by that name. Many critics have objected to the subjective, romantic nature of the title “Moonlight“, which has at times been called “a misleading approach to a movement with almost the character of a funeral march“ and “absurd“. Other critics have approved of the sobriquet, finding it evocative or in line with their own interpretation of the work. Gramophone founder Compton Mackenzie found the title “harmless“, remarking that “it is silly for austere critics to work themselves up into a state of almost hysterical rage with poor Rellstab“, and adding, “what these austere critics fail to grasp is that unless the general public had responded to the suggestion of moonlight in this music Rellstab's remark would long ago have been forgotten.“
