Week 289: “Moonlight Sonata” by Ludwig Van Beethoven

beethoven


On top of being one of the greatest composers of all time, Beethoven might take the prize for most intense person in human history.

Everything about him was intense. Consider:

  • His dad, determined to make him a child prodigy of Mozart-esque proportions, made him practice until (and while) he cried.
  • One of his first compositions, written when he was a child, was dedicated to a dead poodle.
  • He was named after his dead brother. That’s right; he wasn’t the first Ludwig Van in his family. The original Ludwig Van died in childhood.
  • He suffered from a variety of illnesses, collecting them the way some kids collect baseball cards. This may have led to the gradual and tragic loss of his hearing, but he had so many illnesses that nobody’s quite sure which illness was responsible for his deafness.
  • His most famous composition has become synonymous with intensity; its opening bars are audio shorthand for ominous plot twists.
  • He died during a thunderstorm.
  • In every portrait ever painted of him, he is staring directly into your soul.

Of all his wonderful compositions, there are not many that manage to combine his signature intensity with heart-bursting fragility in quite the way that this one does.

What makes this a beautiful song:

1. The arpeggiated chords that run through the piece make it feel like it’s in slow-motion.

2. It shifts from major to minor several times.

3. It’s simple enough that most people with a modest piano background can learn to play it.

Recommended listening activity:

Staring into the distance with your fingers steepled below your nose.

Buy it here.