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Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata
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Beethoven: Compositions, biography, siblings and more facts
14. Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata
It’s one of Beethoven’s great piano works, but he never knew the piece as the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata. He simply called it Piano Sonata No. 14, and it wasn’t given its poetic nickname until 1832, five years after Beethoven’s death. German poet Ludwig Rellstab said the first movement sounded like moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne, and the name stuck.
