"Moonlight" Piano Sonata No. 14 in C# minor. I.

The first movement, in C# minor and alla breve, is written in modified-allegro form. The movement opens with an octave in the left hand and a triplet figuration in the right. The movement is played pianissimo (pp) or 'very quietly' and the loudest it gets is piano (p) or 'quietly'.

The adagio sostenuto tempo has made a powerful impression on many listeners. Beethoven's student, Carl Czerny, called it a 'nocturnal scene, in which a mournful ghostly voice sounds from the distance'. The movement was very popular in Beethoven's time, to the point of exasperating the composer himself, who remarked to Czerny, 'Surely I've written better things'.