Editing Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven) (section)

==Form==
Although no direct testimony exists as to the specific reasons why Beethoven decided to title both the Op. 27 works as ''Sonata quasi una fantasia'', it may be significant that the layout of the present work does not follow the traditional movement arrangement [[Sonata#The sonata in the Classical period|in the Classical period]] of fast–slow–[fast]–fast. Indeed, this sonata is considered one of the earliest pieces of the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] era.<ref name="Maconie 2010 279"/> Instead, the sonata possesses an end-weighted trajectory, with the rapid music held off until the third movement. In his analysis, German critic [[Paul Bekker]] states: "The opening [[sonata-allegro]] movement gave the work a definite character from the beginning&nbsp;... which succeeding movements could supplement but not change. Beethoven rebelled against this determinative quality in the first movement. He wanted a [[Prelude (music)|prelude]], an introduction, not a proposition".<ref>[[Maynard Solomon]], ''Beethoven'' (New York: Schirmer Books, 1998), p. 139</ref>

The sonata consists of three [[Movement (music)|movements]]:

{{Ordered list|type=upper-roman
|[[Tempo#Basic tempo markings|Adagio]] sostenuto
|[[Allegretto]]
|[[Tempo#Basic tempo markings|Presto]] agitato
}}

===I. Adagio sostenuto===
:<score sound="1">
\unfoldRepeats
\new PianoStaff <<
  \new Staff = "right" \with {
    midiInstrument = "acoustic grand"
  } \relative c' { \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo "Adagio sostenuto" 4 = 52
      \key cis \minor
      \time 2/2
      \stemNeutral
    \tuplet 3/2 { gis8^"Si deve suonare tutto questo pezzo delicatissimamente e senza sordino" cis e }
      \override TupletNumber.stencil = ##f
      \repeat unfold 7 { \tuplet 3/2 { gis,8[ cis e] } } |
    \tuplet 3/2 { a,8[( cis e] } \tuplet 3/2 { a, cis e) } \tuplet 3/2 { a,8[( d! fis] } \tuplet 3/2 { a, d fis) } |
    \tuplet 3/2 { gis,([ bis fis'] } \tuplet 3/2 { gis, cis e } \tuplet 3/2 { gis,[ cis dis!] } \tuplet 3/2 { fis, bis dis) } |
  }
  \new Staff = "left" \with {
    midiInstrument = "acoustic grand"
  } {
    \clef bass \relative c' {
      \override TextScript #'whiteout = ##t
      \key cis \minor
      \time 2/2
      <cis,, cis'>1^\markup \italic { sempre \dynamic pp e senza sordino } \noBreak
      <b b'> \noBreak
      <a a'>2 <fis fis'> \noBreak
      <gis gis'> <gis gis'> \noBreak
    }
  }
>>
\midi { }
</score>
The first movement,{{Efn|Note that Beethoven wrote "senza sordino"; see [[#Beethoven's pedal mark]] below.|name=pedal}} in [[C-sharp minor|C{{music|sharp}} minor]] and [[alla breve]], is written in modified [[sonata-allegro form]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harding |first1=Henry Alfred |title=Analysis of form in Beethoven's sonatas |date=1901 |publisher=Novello |location=Borough Green |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924017163027/page/n63 28]–29|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924017163027}}</ref> Donald Francis Tovey warned players of this movement to avoid "taking [it] on a quaver standard like a slow {{Music|time|12|8}}".<ref name=":1" />

The movement opens with an [[octave]] in the left hand and a [[tuplet|triplet]] figuration in the right. A melody that [[Hector Berlioz]] called a "[[lamentation]]",{{Citation needed|date=January 2019}} mostly by the left hand, is played against an accompanying [[ostinato]] triplet rhythm, simultaneously played by the right hand. 
The movement is played ''[[Dynamics (music)|pianissimo]] (pp)'' or "very quietly", and the loudest it gets is ''piano (p)'' or "quietly".

The ''adagio sostenuto'' tempo has made a powerful impression on many listeners; for instance, Berlioz commented that it "is one of those poems that human language does not know how to qualify".<ref name="Rosen"/> Beethoven's student [[Carl Czerny]] called it "a nocturnal scene, in which a mournful ghostly voice sounds from the distance".<ref name=Jones>Jones, Timothy. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FP8l1Di5F5gC&q=mournful&pg=PA43 ''Beethoven, the Moonlight and other sonatas, op. 27 and op. 31'']. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 19, 43 and back cover.</ref> The movement was very popular in Beethoven's day, to the point of exasperating the composer himself, who remarked to Czerny, "Surely I've written better things".<ref>''Life of Beethoven'', [[Alexander Wheelock Thayer]], ed. Elliot Forbes, Princeton 1967</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Fishko |first=Sara |author-link=Sara Fishko |title=Why do we love the 'Moonlight' Sonata? |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18577817 |access-date=10 May 2011 |website=NPR.org |publisher=NPR}}</ref>

In his book ''Beethoven's pianoforte sonatas'',<ref>{{cite book
| last = Fischer
| first =Edwin
| title =Beethoven's pianoforte sonatas: a guide for students & amateurs 
| publisher =Faber
| year =1959
| page =62
| isbn = }}</ref> 
the renowned pianist [[Edwin Fischer]] suggests that this movement of this sonata is based on Mozart's "''Ah Soccorso! Son Tradito''" of his opera [[Don Giovanni]], which comes just after the Commendatore's murder. He claims to have found, in the archives of the [[Wiener Musikverein]], a sketch in Beethoven's handwriting of a few lines of Mozart's music (which bears the same characteristic triplet figuration) [[Transposition (music)|transposed]] to C{{music|sharp}} minor, the key of the sonata. "In any case, there is no romantic moon-light in this movement: it is rather a solemn [[dirge]]", writes Fischer.

===II. Allegretto===
:<score sound="1">
\new PianoStaff <<
  \new Staff = "right" \with {
    midiInstrument = "acoustic grand"
  } \relative c'' { \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t
    \tempo \markup {
     \column {
      \line { Allegretto. }
      \line \tiny { La prima parte senza repetizione. }
     }
    } 4 = 180
    \key des \major
    \numericTimeSignature
    \time 3/4
    \partial 4
    <aes des>4(\p
    <aes c>2 <g bes>4
    <aes ees'>)-. r <f des'>-.
    <aes c>-. r <g bes>-.
    aes-. r <des ges>(
    <des f>2 <c ees>4
    <des aes'>)-. r <bes ges'>-.
    <des f>-. r <c ees>-.
    des-. r
  }
  \new Staff = "left" \with {
    midiInstrument = "acoustic grand"
  } {
    \clef bass \relative c' {
      \key des \major
      \numericTimeSignature
      \time 3/4
      \partial 4
      \tempo "Allegretto."
      f4(
      ees2 des4
      c)-. r <des, bes'>-.
      <ees ees'>-. r <ees des'>-.
      <aes c>-.r \clef treble bes'(
      aes2 ges4
      f)-. r \clef bass <ges, ees'>-.
      <aes aes'>-. r <aes ges'>-.
      <des f>-. r
    }
  }
>>
\midi { }
</score>
The second movement is a relatively conventional [[minuet]] in [[triple time]], with the first section of the minuet not repeated. It is a seeming moment of relative calm written in [[D-flat major|D{{music|flat}} major]], the more easily notated [[enharmonic]] equivalent of [[C-sharp major|C{{music|sharp}} major]], the [[parallel key|parallel major]] of the main work's key, C{{music|sharp}} minor. The slight majority of the movement is in ''[[dynamics (music)|piano]] (p)'', but a handful of ''[[Dynamics (music)|sforzando]]s (sfz)'' and [[Fortepiano (musical dynamic)|''fortepianos'']] (''fp)'' helps to maintain the movement's cheerful disposition. It is the shortest of the movements and has been called the "less popular" interlude between the first and third movements.<ref>DONALDSON, BRYNA. "Beethoven's Moonlight Fantasy." American Music Teacher, vol. 20, no. 4, 1971, pp. 32–32. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43533985. Accessed 20 Oct. 2023.</ref> [[Franz Liszt]] is said to have described the second movement as "a flower between two chasms".<ref>[[Alfred Brendel|Brendel, Alfred]] (2001). [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alfred-Brendel-Music/dp/1906217017/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325880457&sr=1-1#reader_1906217017 ''Alfred Brendel on music'']. A Capella Books. p. 71. {{ISBN|1-55652-408-0}}.</ref>

===III. Presto agitato===
:<score sound="1" lang="lilypond">
\new PianoStaff <<
  \new Staff = "right" \with {
    midiInstrument = "acoustic grand"
  } \relative c'' { \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo "Presto agitato" 4=160
  
    \key cis \minor
    \time 4/4
    %1
      s2\p cis,16 e, \[ gis cis e gis, cis e \] \bar ".|:" 
      gis cis, e gis cis e, \[ gis cis e gis, cis e \] <gis, cis e gis>8\sfz-. <gis cis e gis>-.
    %2
      s2. dis16 gis, bis dis
    %3    
      gis bis, dis gis bis dis, gis bis dis gis, bis dis <gis, bis dis gis>8-.\sfz <gis bis dis gis>-.
  }
  \new Staff = "left" \with {
    midiInstrument = "acoustic grand"
  } {
    \clef bass \relative c' {
      \key cis \minor
      \time 4/4
      \tempo "Presto agitato." 
      % impossible d'afficher le premier ! 
      %1
        << { \[ r16 gis,16 cis e \] gis16 cis, e gis s2 } \\ { cis,,8-. gis'-.  cis,-. gis'-. cis,-. gis'-. cis,-. gis'-.}>> \stemDown \bar ".|:"
      %2
        cis, gis' cis, gis' cis, gis' <cis, cis'>\sfz gis'
      %3
        <<{r16 gis bis dis gis bis, dis gis bis dis, gis bis s4}\\{bis,,8 gis' bis, gis' bis, gis' bis, gis'}>>
        bis, gis' bis, gis' bis, gis' <bis, bis'>\sfz gis'
    }
  }
>>
\midi { }
</score>
The stormy final movement (C{{music|sharp}} minor), in sonata form and [[common time]], is the weightiest of the three, reflecting an experiment of Beethoven's (also carried out in the companion sonata [[Piano Sonata No. 13 (Beethoven)|Opus 27, No. 1]] and later on in [[Piano Sonata No. 28 (Beethoven)|Opus 101]]), namely, placement of the most important movement of the sonata last. The writing has many fast [[arpeggio]]s/broken chords, strongly accented notes, and fast [[alberti bass]] sequences that fall both into the right and left hands at various times. An effective performance of this movement demands lively, skillful playing and great stamina, and is significantly more demanding technically than the 1st and 2nd movements.

Of the final movement, [[Charles Rosen]] has written "it is the most unbridled in its representation of emotion. Even today, two hundred years later, its ferocity is astonishing".<ref name="Rosen" />

Beethoven's heavy use of ''[[dynamics (music)|sforzando]] (sfz)'' notes, together with just a few strategically located ''[[dynamics (music)|fortissimo]] (ff)'' passages, creates the sense of a very powerful sound in spite of the predominance of ''[[dynamics (music)|piano]] (p)'' markings throughout.
[[File:Manuscript of the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor Op.27-2 by Beethoven (trimmed).pdf|thumb|Autograph score; the first page has evidently been lost|upright=1.2]]