Piano Sonata No. 14 "Moonlight", Op. 27 No. 2, first movement sheet music

How to play Piano Sonata No. 14 "Moonlight", Op. 27 No. 2, first movement

Slow, quiet and famous. The challenge is not speed but control: a steady stream of triplets with a singing tune on top, both in the same hand.

Where your hands go

Right hand: thumb on G♯3 for the triplets G♯3, C♯4, E4 that run through the whole piece, three notes to each beat.

Left hand: low octaves, C♯2 with C♯3 in bar 1, held for the whole bar.

The key signature has four sharps and the time is 2/2: two slow beats a bar, each holding two groups of three.

The tricky bars

Bars 5–9

The tune arrives: G♯4 on top of the triplets, played by your little finger, with the other fingers still running the triplets underneath. Where the tune has a short note after a long one, play the short note after the last triplet note, not together with it.

Bars 12–14

The left hand takes over the triplets while the right hand holds long notes, such as the half note F♯4 in bar 13.

Bars 32–41

Broken chords rise and fall over a long low G♯ in the left hand, climbing as high as D♯6 in bar 35.

Bars 60–66

The ending: the right hand climbs and falls in arpeggios, up to G♯5 in bar 62, over repeated low notes in the left hand.

Your practice plan

1. Right hand alone, bars 1 to 4: just the triplets, as even as a clock ticking.
2. Add the tune from bar 5, playing the top note slightly louder than the triplets.
3. Left hand alone through the piece, holding each octave for its full length.
4. Hands together, four bars a day, at half speed with the Speed control.
5. Play it through with Listen on. Aim for quiet and steady, not fast.

Watch out for

• Letting the triplets get louder than the tune. The tune is the voice; the triplets are the moonlight around it.
• Lining up the short melody notes with the last triplet note instead of placing them just after it.
• Speeding up in bars 32 to 41 as the broken chords climb.
• Forgetting a sharp: with four in the key and more added along the way, read each bar slowly the first time.

Power-up: press Loop, tap the first and last of the tricky bars, and they repeat until they feel easy. Hands in Options lets you practise one hand at a time. New to the notation? Start with how to read keyboard staff, then how to practise piano.