Moonlight sonata: difficult or easy?

[Enrique]

I'm most interested in this sentence of yours, Peter:

... just think how many attempt the first movement of the Moonlight, tricked into thinking it 'easy' with dire results.

Is this an example of technical easiness where, however, the interpretative side is difficult, or just the mechanical demands are too great for someone on his first study years? Assuming the pure interpretation is difficult, which I think it is, the question reduces to one of degree of technical difficulty.

[Peter]

No the danger lies in it appearing technically easy when it is not and it is this that tempts so many into playing something they are not ready for. For one thing you have three parts, bass, triplet accompaniment and melody which all have to be properly balanced and controlled generally within a pianissimo dynamic with small crescendi and diminuendo keeping the whole within a soft range. Maintaining those triplets in a very even tone whilst combining the dotted rhythm of the melody is another difficulty as is the pedalling!

Interpretatively it is also not easy - maintaining the long melodic line at a slow tempo and understanding the harmonies and structure of the piece are essential - it is basically sonata form with a development, recapitulation and coda. Also Beethoven did not intend this movement to be played in isolation as at the end he wrote Attacca subito il segeunte - meaning that the next movement is to start without a break, the logic being the enharmonic change from C# minor to Db which is lost with a break.

[Chris]

I played this movement when I was a student, and I did not find it very difficult. And I hope the results were not dire.

It might be trickier than one would expect, however, in that the triplet eighth notes must be kept even, and properly "mixed" into the entire thing. Is that a technical difficulty or an interpretive one? Maybe a little of both. Even once you know what to do, it takes some practice to get it right.

[Enrique]

Oh Peter and Chris, you have given satisfactory answer to this question of mine. Very interesting you remarks, Peter and of course, concise and to the point like always those of Chris. One thing however: the first movement could as well end in Db for that matter. The listener has no way to tell. Hence, what follows is independent of whether the first mvt was in C# or in Db! I admit I may be wrong.

As a side point, if what you say is true, and no doubt it is, then the movement makes an excellent exercise for finger independence and coordination. I think the main point, if you take it as an exercise, is not to run.

[Peter]

As a side point, if what you say is true, and no doubt it is, then the movement makes an excellent exercise for finger independence and coordination. I think the main point, if you take it as an exercise, is not to run.

Yes, far more enjoyable than boring Hanon! Finger exercises have their place but really more is to be gained from finding suitable passages in the classics -Bach's Preludes I find particularly useful in this regard.

Having pointed out the difficulties in that Beethoven movement I wouldn't deter students from attempting it but they need to be of a certain standard - all too often it is attempted when they can't even play a C major scale properly (let alone C# minor!) with the right fingering!

[Enrique]

So I had put my finger in a hot issue after all. OK, but let me tell you, although I do not consider myself your equal in these things, that E major (or for that matter C# minor) is much easier an scale than C major. The reason why the latter is always taught first at conservatories must be a purely historical one.

[Chris]

I believe Chopin taught B major first. E major may be easier than C major since the keys fall more naturally under the fingers, but I don't think (any) C# minor scale is easier than C major, really.

[Enrique]

Well, in the piece under consideration, Beethoven fluctuates between the major and the relative minor scales, besides F# minor if I remember well, according to the sonata plan mentioned by Peter. But more important, there are no scales here. Only arpeggios where B# appears once in a while. To think that these giants bothered to give piano lessons. Well, with pupils such as Beethoven's, each class must have earned a prity good quantity!

[Peter]

So I had put my finger in a hot issue after all. OK, but let me tell you, although I do not consider myself your equal in these things, that E major (or for that matter C# minor) is much easier an scale than C major. The reason why the latter is always taught first at conservatories must be a purely historical one.

Students wouldn't get into conservatories if they didn't already know all their scales - I can't imagine what sort of a conservatory would be teaching a C major scale except from a technical point of view.

[Peter]

Well, in the piece under consideration, Beethoven fluctuates between the major and the relative minor scales, besides F# minor if I remember well, according to the sonata plan mentioned by Peter. But more important, there are no scales here. Only arpeggios where B# appears once in a while. To think that these giants bothered to give piano lessons. Well, with pupils such as Beethoven's, each class must have earned a prity good quantity!

Beethoven had very few pupils - aside from a few aristocratic ladies when he arrived in Vienna, his pupils can be counted on one hand: Ferdinand Ries, Carl Czerny and Archduke Rudolph. The composer/teacher with the greatest legacy was Liszt whose pupils included a string of outstanding pianists, Moritz Rosenthal, Emil Sauer, Alexander Siloti and Sophie Mentor amongst many others.
Chopin though a great teacher was not so fortunate in his pupil's abilities (with a few exceptions such as Karol Mikuli and Carl Filtsch).

[Peter]

I believe Chopin taught B major first. E major may be easier than C major since the keys fall more naturally under the fingers, but I don't think (any) C# minor scale is easier than C major, really.

Chopin was amazingly ahead of his time in this - he considered C major the most difficult because of the passing of the thumb under the hand unaided by the support of the black notes which of course you get with B major. I don't know of any teacher who begins this way.

[Chris]

I'm not sure it makes much sense unless you are factoring in only piano technique. If you are trying to learn about composition and theory too, it seems like C major is the more logical starting point.

[Enrique]

I'am in an eternal rendezvous with music, for ever an amateur. If any of my opinions collides with those of you, guys, who know way more about music than me, please hagan la vista gorda (to do as if something was not said or did not happen). Chris' words look full of sense to me by the way.

[Sorrano]

I'm not sure it makes much sense unless you are factoring in only piano technique. If you are trying to learn about composition and theory too, it seems like C major is the more logical starting point.

It might seem that way, but it's probably better to give a starting student a diversity; working in C Major all the time gives the illusion that it is the easiest, but if you work in key signatures with black keys then you train the student equally with what some term the "harder" keys. The method that the Bastions use for adults is to work with mixed keys without yet learning the signatures. I found it effective for me as a student.