BECAUSE THE 19th CENTURY BECAME
VERY INTERESTED IN THE CONNECTION BETWEEN WORDS AND
MUSIC AND MAKING MUSIC ILLUSTRATE THINGS OUTSIDE MUSIC,
EGMONT OVERTURE, CORIOLAN OVERTURE BY BEETHOVEN, AND THE
OTHER OVERTURES BECAME KIND OF MODELS FOR TONE POEMS AND
SYMPHONIC POEMS. SO IT'S OFTEN PLAYED AS A KIND
OF EARLY MODEL OF THESE WORKS IN CONCERTS.
BUT I DON'T THINK THAT'S REALLY QUITE HOW BEETHOVEN PERCEIVED
IT. IT'S REALLY AS A PRELUDE TO A
PLAY BY GOETHE. AND IT RUNS, FAIRLY TYPICALLY AS
BEETHOVEN DOES, IT'S PRIMARILY IN F MINOR, BUT IT HAS A
TRIUMPHANT ENDING, AGAIN THE TRIUMPH OF GOOD OVER EVIL, WHEN
IT MOVES INTO F MAJOR. AND THE ORCHESTRATION IS CROWNED
AT THE END BY THE ADDITION OF THE PICCOLO TWITTLING AWAY AT
THE TOP. [playing Egmont Overture]
[playing Moonlight Sonata] ♪ ♪
>> narrator: THE MOONLIGHT SONATA WAS COMPOSED IN 1801.
BEETHOVEN DEDICATED IT TO THE COUNTESS GUICCIARDI.
BEETHOVEN HAD FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THE 17-YEAR-OLD AND
PROPOSED MARRIAGE. GIULIETTA'S FATHER, HOWEVER,
OPPOSED THE MARRIAGE, AND SHE MARRIED A NOBLEMAN INSTEAD.
BEETHOVEN WAS INCONSOLABLE, BUT HIS DESPAIR DID INSPIRE THIS
GREAT ROMANTIC WORK. >> BEETHOVEN'S
MOONLIGHT SONATA IS ONE OF HIS MOST FAMOUS AND MOST POPULAR
SONATAS. IN SOME SENSES, ITS POPULARITY
OBSCURES JUST HOW UNUSUAL A SONATA IT IS.
AFTER ALL, MOST SONATAS BEGIN WITH A FAST MOVEMENT, BUT
THIS BEGINS WITH A SLOW MOVEMENT.
IT WASN'T CALLED MOONLIGHT BY BEETHOVEN.
IT WAS CALLED MOONLIGHT BY A GERMAN POET CALLED RELLSTAB,
WHO SAID IN A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE SONATA THAT IT REMINDED HIM
OF THE MOONLIGHT OVER LAKE LUCERNE.
>> narrator: FULL OF YEARNING AND A SENSE OF INFINITE SPACE,
THE FORLORN QUALITY OF THE LONG, HANGING NOTES SEEMINGLY
SUSPENDED IN SPACE PERFECTLY EVOKES THE UNFULFILLED YEARNINGS
FOR LOST LOVE AND TENDERNESS EXPERIENCED BY ITS COMPOSER.
THE NOTES SEEM TO HANG IN A HUGE VOID OF EMPTINESS.
>> THE MOONLIGHT SONATA WAS WRITTEN BETWEEN 1800
AND 1801, AND IT FORMS A PART OF A PAIR OF SONATAS, BOTH OF WHICH
HAVE THE TITLE "SONATA QUASI UNA FANTASIA," WHICH IS SONATA AS
THOUGH IT WAS A FANTASIA. FANTASIA REALLY MEANS SOMETHING
KIND OF IMPROVISED, SOMETHING WHICH DOESN'T HAVE A STRICT FORM
ABOUT IT. AND THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE
SONATA HAS NO STRICT FORM. IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT'S NOT
GOT A FORM, BUT IT'S NOT IN ONE OF THE ESTABLISHED FORMS LIKE
SONATA FORM OR RONDO. IT'S AS THOUGH BEETHOVEN WERE
IMPROVISING IT, CREATING A MOOD AND EXPLORING WHEREVER, AS IT
WERE, HIS WHIMSY MIGHT TAKE HIM.