Moonlight Sonata on guitar: my arrangement in a prepared tuning

A new reading of the Adagio from Ludwig van Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, arranged for guitar in a prepared tuning that brings the melody onto the first string. Here is how I got there and why the tuning makes the difference.

Beethoven's sonata

It is the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor, Op. 27 No. 2, «quasi una fantasia», written in 1801 and dedicated to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The name «Moonlight» is not Beethoven's: it was given after his death by the critic Ludwig Rellstab, to whom the first movement recalled moonlight on Lake Lucerne.

That first movement, the Adagio sostenuto, is built on a continuous triplet arpeggio with a slow melody singing above it: that is exactly why guitarists have always loved and transcribed it.

The guitar versions

It all started on YouTube, listening to solo guitar versions: from the demanding A minor transcription to Francisco Tárrega's D minor arrangement, with the melody on the third string. Each has its merits, but I wanted a warmer, more singing melody, and I decided to try a lute-derived tuning.

The lute tuning: the melody on the first string

From the first string: E, B, F♯, D, A, D. The third string goes down to F♯ and the sixth to D: it is the Renaissance lute tuning, the same I use for the Sarabande and the Pavana del Re.

In this tuning the melody flows naturally on the first string: the performance becomes more singing and resonant, and Beethoven's masterpiece more accessible and harmonious on the guitar, without losing the emotional depth of the original.

The recording

In the recording you can hear a faint background sound: it is the fountain near the church. We chose not to remove it, to keep the performance as it was, natural. Filmed and edited by Daniele Ponzoni, Direzione Digitale. You will find the full tuning on the arrangement page; I explain why I use prepared tunings in Prepared and open tunings on the classical guitar.