This comes from the musicologist Wilhelm von Lenz, who wrote in 1852: 'Rellstab compares this work to a boat, visiting, by moonlight, the remote parts of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. Many sources say that the nickname Moonlight Sonata arose after the German music critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab likened the effect of the first movement to that of moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne. 'The subtitle reminds listeners that the piece, although technically a sonata, is suggestive of a free-flowing, improvised fantasia.' Grove Music Online translates the Italian title as ' sonata in the manner of a fantasy'. The first edition of the score is headed Sonata quasi una fantasia ('sonata almost a fantasy'), the same title as that of its companion piece, Op. Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata in his early thirties, after he had finished with some commissioned work there is no evidence that he was commissioned to write this sonata.
The piece is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano, and it was a popular favourite even in his own day. The name Moonlight Sonata ( German: Mondscheinsonate) grew popular later, likely after Beethoven's death. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie 'Giulietta' Guicciardi. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op.
