Kirchensonate

The nickname Moonlight Sonata traces to the 1830s, when German Romantic poet Ludwig Rellstab published a review in which he likened the first movement of the piece to a boat floating in the moonlight on Switzerland's Lake Lucerne.

sonata, type of musical composition, usually for a solo instrument or a small instrumental ensemble, that typically consists of two to four movements, or sections, each in a related key but with a unique musical character.

A symphony is an orchestra's large-scale musical composition, usually requiring 50-80 instruments. Symphonies refer to the music, not the musicians performing it, and similar to stage plays, they may have several movements or acts of, often complex, elaborate classical music.

The basic elements of sonata form are three: exposition, development, and recapitulation, in which the musical subject matter is stated, explored or expanded, and restated. There may also be an introduction, usually in slow tempo, and a coda, or tailpiece.

Moonlight Sonata: Rhythmic Ostinato The melody of this movement is very fleeting – it creates a feeling of little peeks of light shining through the pitch-black lower notes. The melody practically glistens.

The Composition's Unique Structure One of the most remarkable aspects of Moonlight Sonata is its unique structure, which defied the conventions of sonata form at the time of its creation. The piece is divided into three movements, each with its own distinctive mood and character.

Sonata form was typically used for the first and sometimes the last movements of multi-movement works, such as concertos, symphonies, sonatas, and string quartets. During the Romantic era, the form also often appeared in tone poems, overtures, and other one-movement symphonic works.

Sonata (/səˈnɑːtə/; Italian: [soˈnaːta], pl. sonate; from Latin and Italian: sonare [archaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by suonare], "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian cantare, "to sing"), a piece sung.

noun,plural sym·pho·nies. Music. an elaborate instrumental composition in three or more movements, similar in form to a sonata but written for an orchestra and usually of far grander proportions and more varied elements.

A symphony is made up of four sections called movements. Each movement follows its own structure or format. The first uses a quick tempo and follows sonata-allegro form; the second is slower and more lyrical; the third is a minuet or scherzo and the final movement often uses sonata-allegro form.

In the Classical period, the sonata was a very popular form of composition. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven all wrote sonatas. Haydn and Mozart usually (but not always) wrote sonatas in 3 movements. Beethoven extended this structure to 4 movements, which in many ways became the “template” for sonata writing moving forward.

The most typical four-movement plan is F - S - minuet - F. (Instead of either a conventional minuet-finale or a fast-finale after the slow movement, one had both.) Occasionally, the minuet was placed in second-movement position.