The Moonlight Sonata: What’s in a Name?

Beethoven’s popular plaintive piece is more than its moniker. Yet its name somehow catches its evocative quality.

Ludwig van Beethoven. Engraving by J. Lindner after C. Jaeger. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

If I started to play for you the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Opus 27, No. 2, subtitled “Quasi una fantasia,” you would immediately recognize it.

Title doesn’t ring a bell? Trust me. You’d recognize it.