"Missing" 1st movement of the Moonlight

[Michael]

Originally posted by Chris:
Why did you reply to a four year old thread?

Well, as the thread seems to be re-opened, I might as well mention another curious thing. As far as I know, Beethoven wrote only two works in C sharp minor: the Moonlight and the late quartet, opus 131, and both open with a slow movement. Coincidence?

Michael

[Droell]

Originally posted by Rutradelusasa:
PDG, I couldn't agree more, I've always said that (I don't think I ever did on this forum) and I've played it in that sense. I've always found that there is no 1st movement, and we should abstract it from the others (try to remove the 1st movement of the pathethique and then abstract one based on the others). So you are left wondering: is this a stormy sonata with a tender second movement or is it a tender sonata which gets stormier as it goes (think of the pastoral as it approaches the 4th movement)?

And for me that is THE genious of it, I mean, could music get more interactive than this?

It helps to remember that in Beethoven's day, a piano sonata only had three movements. It was Beethoven himself, only a few years earlier, who had pioneered "symphonic" four movement piano sonatas.

[Charalampos]

I have a question.... why Beethoven wrote such a "luric" melody with espressivo signs and he used simple triples to accompany... I think that if the melody is played espressivo (just when the melody starts!!!)the flow of the triples just brake...and I don't like to brake the flow... I think that the triplets keep the flow and not an espressivo... I 'd like to hear your opinion...

[jman]

I think this is a rather interesting topic, 4 years old or not...

I don't think I could agree with the adagio being analyzed in sonata form. I don't think it has to be because Beethoven indicated that it's more a fantasy and it eventually builds to the finale which is in sonata form (same idea as the op. 27 no. 1). I see where the analyzer is coming from though, in that there are somewhat distinctsections, although the key areas are not consistent with sonata form. I also don't know if 4 bars is long enough to constitute a first theme.

My impression was that the first movement is more a ternary form...or is it rounded binary, I can never remember the difference, I know it's about the final cadence. So kind of it's not using the terms exposition, development and recap and just replacing them with A, B and A because I don't think the sonata terms are applicable here.

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by Droell:

It helps to remember that in Beethoven's day, a piano sonata only had three movements. It was Beethoven himself, only a few years earlier, who had pioneered "symphonic" four movement piano sonatas.

Dear Droell;

Beethoven was not the progenitor of the 4-movement sonata!!


Hofrat