What do you hear or perceive as the expressive narrative of the third movement of Beethoven's Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 #2 and how does the music create that narrative?

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Composed in 1800-1801, called Moonlight by the poet Ludwig Rellstab, the sonata Op. 27 #2 became one of the most famous of Beethoven's pieces almost immediately after its publication. It continues to fascinate the audience by the lyrical and dramatic first movement contrasting with the virtuoso violence of the third one. Even if the whole structure is not very original – still deeply influenced by classicism – this sonata sounds so romantic and new that it could be understood as a foreboding to later composers like Chopin or Liszt. Undeniable innovator, Beethoven wanted to compose a piece lightly different from a usual sonata. He designated it as sonata quasi una fantasia, “a designation that has no readily apparent precedent” . It was not only very rare to begin a piece in different parts with a slow movement, but also very bold to finish it with a so dramatic and active movement. Beethoven distorted the classical structure, making the climax occur at the end; it builds a huge tension all along this new musical architecture.

Extraits

[...] However, after a pause, the second theme comes back again in bass and then switches to the right hand and is played in octaves. At the end, crescendo, rising appoggiaturas and acceleration definitely lead to the climax which had been delayed by section Here is the key section of the movement. Following the same idea since the beginning, the line tries desperately to get up with broad arpeggios lot, by skip) and an alternation of rhythm: the triples are going down, the sixteenth notes (faster because it is a real will) are going up in waves. [...]

[...] It sounds like a very fleeting thought which cannot dominate the dramatic reality at all. The coda is introduced by the same two bars of transition than between the exposition and the development (bars 63-64). It begins with a fragment of the first theme which always tries to get up after having been stopped by two chords. Then the line is broken up into short arpeggios alternated right/left hand. It builds a lot of tension, emphasized by the bass descending chromatically. [...]

[...] There is the same acceleration on the left hand but off the beat, to emphasize a hurried movement. Bar 40 the line without accompaniment goes up a lot by steps; the listener expects a resolution but it finally goes down by leaps with clear refusal chords obliging the mind to face the difficulties. There is now again the second theme but in a more marcato rhythm (no running accompaniment). The end is syncopated and pretty much static. It is the same form than section but seems stronger (higher register, broader chords) with an alternation of forte and piano. [...]

[...] It is a slow movement in C-sharp minor (weird quality and key that can also be found in one of the last Beethoven's string quartet op.131). Beethoven used a sonata form but avoided to make appear the structure. He was clearly more interested in depicting an atmosphere, a feeling, than composing through a particular form. Hiding the articulations and designing a long flowing melody, he softened the lines to emphasize the colors. Hector Berlioz defined the piece as a “lamentation”; he underlined large chords of a solemn, sad character” and added that length of these allows the vibrations of the piano to extend gradually over each one of them”[3]. [...]

[...] By displacing the climax to the end, Beethoven also tried to shift the focus of the listener. I would even think that this composition, in a certain way, foreshadows Wagner. I think especially to Das Rheingold's overture, which is in fact an overture of a preliminary piece. It is based on almost one chord extended proportionally to the scale of a four operas cycle. The first movement of the Moonlight, also very minimalist notice that Arvo Pärt quoted it in Spiegel im Spiegel), has this prelude quality that Bekker talked about, and that we can find in Wagner's opera. [...]