Piano Forum

Liszt and the Keyboard - An Illustrated Lecture
Whatever else the world may debate about Franz Liszt's life and work, one thing is generally conceded: he was the first modern pianist. Entitled "Liszt and the Keyboard", master musicologist Dr. Alan Walker gives us an exciting 47 minute journey describing Liszt being the root of modern piano playing. Read more >>

Pages: [1] Go Down

Topic: Trilling a double sharp in Beethoven's 3rd Moonlight (Read 1291 times)

tunneller

Jr. Member
Posts: 67

Trilling a double sharp in Beethoven's 3rd Moonlight

on: November 07, 2020, 10:03:34 PM

Hi, on bar 32 of the 3rd movement of Beethoven's Moonlight, there is an octave of F double-sharp with a trill on it. I figure thumb and 4th finger to do the octave and 5th finger for the trill note.... er... what note is that? G sharp? [That'll be tricky with 4<->5?]. Should I start on the F or the G? My version actually has some confusing finger notation just a "4" (not a "54" or "44").

And then in same bar there is an ornament E-sharp, F, to Gsharp octave. What are the rules for that F - eg is it still a double sharp?

Thanks, T.

Logged

pianowhisper

PS Silver Member
Jr. Member
Posts: 52

Re: Trilling a double sharp in Beethoven's 3rd Moonlight

Reply #1 on: November 14, 2020, 05:14:32 PM

Hello,

The upper note of the trill should be a G#. It's been a while since I last played this sonata but I'm positive I played the F## octave with 1-4 fingering, as it is indeed written on scores (or most of them, I believe).

For the trill, I'd say you should release your thumb from the bottom F## while doing a gentle rotation of your wrist + slightly moving your forearm to the right. This should allow you to reach the G# with your 5th finger in a movement that feels very natural. If your hands are big enough you can try to play the F## octave with 1-3 and then perform the rest of the passage resulting in the G# octave with 1-4.
I might be wrong but I believe that, for Beethoven, trills were usually, if not always meant to be played with the main note first, so in these octave-trills passages you should definitely play the octave first and then perform the trill/turn.
As for the ornament you mention (which constitutes the "turn" I just stated), the F is still F##, just like the A is still A# for bar 30.

Hope this helps!

Logged

Post reply

Pages: [1] Go Up