Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata transformed into jazz???

By Scott

This arrangement came into being from a sudden connection of two ideas that had been simmering for several months. Sometimes letting ideas form on their own is the best way to go!

I got a request in fall 2021 from one of our supporters to make an arrangement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata for piano duet. However, I was reluctant to do it because my arranging philosophy is to either remain as faithful as possible to the original music (easier in music that features many voices/instruments, such as orchestral or pop, because those voices can be distributed among our 20 fingers without the need to add things), or to change it drastically (as in my Happy Birthday arrangements), and I couldn’t think of a way to make either of these fit with the piece.

Arranging a solo piano piece for 4-hands can be awkward because adding extra voices can make it seem artificial or forced. I did have the thought of combining the original Beethoven with another piece, but the idea never really had a clear plan, so I didn’t start it.

Another piece that I have wanted to arrange for a long time is the jazz standard Fly Me to the Moon by Bart Howard. I have some jazz theory background, but I feel that whenever I try to write something in jazz style, it still sounds like a classical pianist poorly attempting jazz! I came up with a solution with my Autumn Leaves arrangement, by transforming this jazz standard into various Classical works.

A few months ago, I even started making a list of Classical works which I could transform into Fly Me to the Moon, but this also never got started because I didn’t feel the idea was strong enough.

Just last month, it suddenly clicked - why don’t I combine the Moonlight Sonata with Fly Me to the Moon! And I could use all three movements of Beethoven’s original, so I could get a wide variety of textures and moods! So I got to work, and the ideas came pretty quickly and easily.

What you’ll hear is a compression of Beethoven’s original 15-minute work into a 5-minute mash-up of most of the important themes from all three movements. I retained Beethoven’s rhythms and textures, but in the first and third movements, I often had to add the Fly Me to the Moon melody over top, since Beethoven’s original texture didn’t fit the melody well enough. The second movement features some fun dialog between the primo and secondo parts.

We switched parts from our usual Scott on primo and Clare on secondo, mainly because I had played the original Beethoven before, and knew I would get glares from Clare if she played the difficult secondo part, which features similar technical difficulties to the original. Enjoy!

PS this arrangement is a companion to my Beethoven Pathétique sonata transformed into a Japanese anime theme song, not only for the concept, but also because this anime series also features Fly Me to the Moon as its ending credit theme song!

PPS the Beethoven bust was a gift from my childhood piano teacher, Carole Pollard, after one of my high school solo recitals!

The 1st movement begins identically to Beethoven’s original, but when the melody enters at 0:23, it suddenly modulates to F minor, since Fly Me to the Moon begins on the 3rd scale degree (Beethoven’s G-sharp melody becomes A-flat). I took various patterns from Beethoven, such as the recurring triplets in the middle voice, dotted rhythm melody, the exchange of treble and tenor melodies (m. 28-31 in Beethoven, 1:17), and the rising broken chords (m. 32-35, 1:31).

The 2nd movement (2:09) retains Beethoven’s articulation and rhythm, but all the harmonies and melodies are transformed. (Trio section at 2:27)

The 3rd movement (2:46) keeps Beethoven’s original rising broken chord pattern (with new harmonies) in the secondo part while the Fly Me to the Moon melody is in the primo. Here are some key moments and the corresponding parts from Beethoven: (3:04) m. 9-14 G-sharp pedal point followed by fermata (3:21) m. 19-32 second theme group with rapid alberti bass pattern in the middle and syncopated octaves in the treble (3:40) m. 33 big chords followed by running passages (listen for Fly Me to the Moon, but at a speed four times faster than before!) (3:54) m. 43-56 staccato chord section (4:11) m. 57-64 codetta (4:19) m. 177 falling and rising arpeggios (4:32) m. 159-166 “recap” and climax (4:53) m. 191-end coda, but now in E major