The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is popularly known as the "Moonlight" Sonata. The work was completed in 1801[1] and dedicated to his pupil, 17-year-old Countess Giulietta Guicciardi,[2] with whom Beethoven was, or had been in love.[3] The name "Moonlight" Sonata derives from an 1832 description of the first movement by poet Ludwig Rellstab, who compared it to moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne.[4][1]
Beethoven included the phrase "Quasi una fantasia" (Italian: Almost a fantasy)[5] in the t**le partly because the sonata does not follow the traditional sonata pattern where the first movement is in regular sonata form, and where the three or four movements are arranged in a fast-slow-[fast]-fast sequence.
Beethoven included the phrase "Quasi una fantasia" (Italian: Almost a fantasy)[5] in the t**le partly because the sonata does not follow the traditional sonata pattern where the first movement is in regular sonata form, and where the three or four movements are arranged in a fast-slow-[fast]-fast sequence.