Moonlight Sonata for kids: the story and what to hear

The Moonlight Sonata is a piano piece by Beethoven from 1801. Its slow first movement is among the best-known piano music there is. Beethoven did not name it. A writer called it “Moonlight” five years after Beethoven died, and the name stuck. This guide tells the story and shows you what to listen for in all three movements.

Quick facts

• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
• Written: 1801, when he was 30
• For: piano
• Movements: three
• Length: about 15 minutes in all, and about six minutes for the first movement
• Full name: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor

Who named it?

Beethoven’s own title was “Sonata in the manner of a fantasy.” A fantasy is a piece that follows its own path in place of the usual plan.

In 1832, a German poet and music critic named Ludwig Rellstab wrote about the first movement. He said it made him think of a boat on a Swiss lake by moonlight. Publishers began to print “Moonlight Sonata” on the cover.

What was different about it

Most sonatas of the time began with a fast movement. This one begins with a slow one. The speed and the weight grow from movement to movement, and the storm comes at the end.

Beethoven wrote it in the year his letters first speak of his hearing loss.

He dedicated it to one of his piano students, a young countess named Giulietta Guicciardi.

What to listen for

First movement: slow

The right hand plays rolling groups of three notes from start to finish. Count them: one-two-three, one-two-three. The left hand plays deep, slow notes below.

After a few bars, a tune enters on top. It begins with one note repeated in a long-short-long rhythm.

The music stays soft almost all the way through. Beethoven asked the pianist to hold down the pedal that lets the strings ring, so the sounds blur together.

Second movement: a gentle dance

Two minutes long, in a major key, and light on its feet. It gives the ear a rest between the two heavy movements.

Third movement: the storm

Fast and fierce. The right hand races up the keyboard in broken chords and lands on two sharp, loud chords at the top. It does this again and again. This is the hardest movement to play by far.

A story that is not true

An old tale says that Beethoven made up the piece one night for a blind girl, with moonlight coming through the window. It is a made-up story from the 1800s.

Too popular for its composer

The sonata was a favorite in Beethoven’s lifetime. A student of his reported that Beethoven grew tired of hearing about it. He felt he had written better pieces.

Do not mix it up with Clair de lune

“Clair de lune” is French for “moonlight.” It is a different piano piece, by the French composer Debussy, written about 90 years later. Read Clair de lune for kids.

Things to do together

Count in three. During the first movement, tap one-two-three with a finger on your knee. Keep it going for a whole minute.

Calm and storm. Play one minute of the first movement and one minute of the third. Ask your child to move to each. Then ask how one composer wrote both.

Draw the lake. Play the first movement and draw the picture it brings to mind. Rellstab saw a lake. Your child may see something else.

Rename it. Beethoven did not choose the name. Ask your child to give the first movement a new one.

Bedtime music. The first movement works well as the last music of the day. See calm classical music for kids at bedtime.

Print and play

Draw what you hear on a listening journal page. Read Beethoven for kids for his life story. To learn what a sonata is, read symphony, concerto, and sonata explained for kids. For another Beethoven piano piece, read who was Elise?

For more pieces, see classical music listening guides for kids.