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Moonlight Melody

Moonlight Sonata 1st Movement

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven Melody Notes - Gold Middle Arpeggio Notes - Silver Bass Notes - Bronze Details of Passage Depicted Three parts have been colored separately. The opening melody of the Moonlight’s 1st Movement is in gold. The arpeggio accompaniment is in silver, and the bass notes, usually in octaves, are across the back in bronze. The beginning of each piano note has small wings that help show the attacks of repeated notes. In this view, as the notes move up in pitch they move toward the right side. All upper harmonics have been removed, leaving only the fundamentals we see as “the notes” in music notation. This scene shows about 25 seconds of the famous melody line. The moon above and water below do not represent the analyzed music. Only the 3D shapes rising out of the water represent the music. The Moonlight Sonata is one of Beethoven’s most famous piano sonatas. The opening notes and melody of this first movement are familiar to millions. John Lennon was obsessed with the Moonlight and flipped a reel-to-reel tape of it over to play it backwards. This backwards version inspired the chords for the song “Because,” on the Abbey Road album. Beethoven on Picturing Music while Composing Many composers have spoken about the relationship of visuals, architecture, and color to their music. Beethoven made at least a couple of specific comments on this topic that were noted and published. “I always have a picture in my mind when composing, and follow its lines.” (In 1815, talking about the "Pastoral" symphony.) “I change many things, discard, and try again until I am satisfied. Then, however, there begins in my head the development in every direction, and, in as much as I know exactly what I want, the fundamental idea never deserts me,—it arises before me, grows,—I see and hear the picture in all its extent and dimensions stand before my mind like a cast, and there remains for me nothing but the labor of writing it down, which is quickly accomplished when I have the time...” (1822)