Does anyone know the exact date the Moonlight sonata was composed?

[jbmajor]

I know it was only after Beethoven's death that is was given its present name, but was trying to connect the dates, since I found a website that gives the lunar cycle dating all the way back to the beginning of the 18th century. 


http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.html


I wanted to see if there was any sort of coincidence involved.

Thanks.

[bernhard]

Both sonatas op. 27 were works that Beethoven composed “for himself”, so to speak; they were not commissioned. The evidence is that he started working on them in the spring of 1801 – after he had finished commissioned work. The important date seems to be 28 March 1801: that was when “Prometheus” had its premiere. When he actually started working on them in earnest is not known because the sketchbook for these sonatas was sold by the antiquarian Sauer page by page, and only 22 of the 96 pages have been recovered. The autograph manuscript of the Moonlight is missing the first and last page, so again, there is no way to tell for certain the exact dates.

Both sonatas were first published in March 1802 by Giovanni Cappi in Vienna and (in another edition) by Nikolaus Simrock in Bonn.

The name “Moonlight” was given neither by Beethoven, nor by the publishers, but by the critic (and poet) Ludwig Rellstab in 1832 (Beethoven died in 1827). Rellstab nicknamed it so simply because “the sonata made him think of moonlight on the Lake of Lucerne”. This goes on to show once again the phallacies of the aesthetic argument (if it sounds beautiful to me, it must be the correct interpretation) when applied to music.

Best wishes,
Bernhard

[xvimbi]

This goes on to show once again the phallacies of the aesthetic argument (if it sounds beautiful to me, it must be the correct interpretation) when applied to music.

Bernhard, please, use the correct spelling for the word "fallacies". You have done this now a few times already, and every time, my mind goes wandering around, and it takes me minutes to get back to the topic at hand 

[bernhard]

Bernhard, please, use the correct spelling for the word "fallacies". You have done this now a few times already, and every time, my mind goes wandering around, and it takes me minutes to get back to the topic at hand 

 


(on the other hand it may be intentional)

[xvimbi]

(on the other hand it may be intentional)

That's what I meant. I generally give you the doubt of you saying things intentionally and with a purpose. That's why I am trying to find interpretations of that word that invariably lead me into the gutters. 

[bernhard]

invariably lead me into the gutters. 

Perhaps that was the intention.

(Then again it may just be ignorance: English is not my first language).

[xvimbi]

(Then again it may just be ignorance: English is not my first language).

I was wondering about what your first language is.

[jbmajor]

Both sonatas op. 27 were works that Beethoven composed “for himself”, so to speak; they were not commissioned. The evidence is that he started working on them in the spring of 1801 – after he had finished commissioned work. The important date seems to be 28 March 1801: that was when “Prometheus” had its premiere. When he actually started working on them in earnest is not known because the sketchbook for these sonatas was sold by the antiquarian Sauer page by page, and only 22 of the 96 pages have been recovered. The autograph manuscript of the Moonlight is missing the first and last page, so again, there is no way to tell for certain the exact dates.

Both sonatas were first published in March 1802 by Giovanni Cappi in Vienna and (in another edition) by Nikolaus Simrock in Bonn.

The name “Moonlight” was given neither by Beethoven, nor by the publishers, but by the critic (and poet) Ludwig Rellstab in 1832 (Beethoven died in 1827). Rellstab nicknamed it so simply because “the sonata made him think of moonlight on the Lake of Lucerne”. This goes on to show once again the phallacies of the aesthetic argument (if it sounds beautiful to me, it must be the correct interpretation) when applied to music.

Best wishes,
Bernhard

Thanks, you're truly a wealth of information. 

[jbmajor]

The evidence is that he started working on them in the spring of 1801 – after he had finished commissioned work. The important date seems to be 28 March 1801: that was when “Prometheus” had its premiere.

How close it was; only two days prior to the full moon of March of that year(3/30/01).