A Sonata in Moonlight
Here I return... I have tried to kick start my blogging and I actually did, but I always felt that I never really had the patience or time to invest in a blog. But here I am, typing away as fast as I could. Really, the reason I came back was because I was bored; too bored to concentrate on my GMAT prep and too bored to do anything else routine (if such a thing exists). I was just listening to music on you tube, and I found this video of Wilhelm Kempff playing the Moonlight Sonata of Ludwig Van Beethoven, all three movements - Adagio Sostenuto, Allegretto, Presto Agitato.
If you are familiar with western classical music, at least a little bit, you would understand that this sonata increases in pace from the names of the movements as they progress. Adagio Sostenuto conjures up the images of moon light reflecting on the gentle waves of a lake and hence the name.
But in my interpretation it conjures up an image so powerful and so realistic that I yearn for that image to come true. The vision of the music unfolds thus:
It is a stormy night, rain lashing out Mother Earth and she takes it all in gloomily or rather sullenly. I am in my home (?!), in my room and it is a stone masonry room, heavily wooden furnished and rectangular in fashion. The roof of the room covers about three quarters of the room's length and from there slopes to a glass panelled wall, all the way to the bottom of the room. This sloping segment is actually made of wooden frames and glass panels, and the beams running in a chequered fashion. This room must have been in an upper story, how high I don't know, but definitely it looked like a high place. There is a hearth in the room, fire softly crackling in it and an arm chair in front of the fire, quite a victorian piece of furniture. On the fine rug between the hearth and the arm chair, lies my dog, awake but lying down on its belly. I am dressed in a riding suit, peering through the window, lost in thought watching the water cascading over the glass and forming patterns with a mind of its own. Moon light Sonata is playing softly in the room, I know not the source from where the heavenly notes emanate but it neither interferes my thought flow, nor does provoke my interest. I gently turn and walk towards the arm chair and my dog, looked like a mastiff, lifts its head up and waits for me to settle in the chair. After I did, he got up in a slow but confident movement and drew closer to me. He then rested his chin on my knee, but facing the fire. I start stroking his head and the nape of this neck and he doesn't change the direction of his look but staring at the fire. The Moonlight Sonata Piano Sonata No. 14 Movement Adagio Sostenuto was playing on softly, every single note resonating in the room.
Granted, there is not a sliver of moonlight in this vision to tie it with the name of the sonata, but it was all the more the same kind of emotions and visions that this sonata evokes, I reckon.
If you are familiar with western classical music, at least a little bit, you would understand that this sonata increases in pace from the names of the movements as they progress. Adagio Sostenuto conjures up the images of moon light reflecting on the gentle waves of a lake and hence the name.
But in my interpretation it conjures up an image so powerful and so realistic that I yearn for that image to come true. The vision of the music unfolds thus:
It is a stormy night, rain lashing out Mother Earth and she takes it all in gloomily or rather sullenly. I am in my home (?!), in my room and it is a stone masonry room, heavily wooden furnished and rectangular in fashion. The roof of the room covers about three quarters of the room's length and from there slopes to a glass panelled wall, all the way to the bottom of the room. This sloping segment is actually made of wooden frames and glass panels, and the beams running in a chequered fashion. This room must have been in an upper story, how high I don't know, but definitely it looked like a high place. There is a hearth in the room, fire softly crackling in it and an arm chair in front of the fire, quite a victorian piece of furniture. On the fine rug between the hearth and the arm chair, lies my dog, awake but lying down on its belly. I am dressed in a riding suit, peering through the window, lost in thought watching the water cascading over the glass and forming patterns with a mind of its own. Moon light Sonata is playing softly in the room, I know not the source from where the heavenly notes emanate but it neither interferes my thought flow, nor does provoke my interest. I gently turn and walk towards the arm chair and my dog, looked like a mastiff, lifts its head up and waits for me to settle in the chair. After I did, he got up in a slow but confident movement and drew closer to me. He then rested his chin on my knee, but facing the fire. I start stroking his head and the nape of this neck and he doesn't change the direction of his look but staring at the fire. The Moonlight Sonata Piano Sonata No. 14 Movement Adagio Sostenuto was playing on softly, every single note resonating in the room.
Granted, there is not a sliver of moonlight in this vision to tie it with the name of the sonata, but it was all the more the same kind of emotions and visions that this sonata evokes, I reckon.
Labels: moonlight sonata, praveenopolis
posted by Praveen the Great at 12:57 am
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