Music Mosaic

Moonlight Sonata 1st Movement

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT7_IZPHHb0

Artist Statement

The first movement of Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, more commonly known as Moonlight Sonata, by Ledwig von Beethoven has been a hallmark of classic music since its completion in 1801. The piece is simple in terms of its instrumental range, yet complex in its delivery of a steady, contemplative, and hopeful melody. The piece starts with a deep minor progression that gave me a disheartened, dark feeling as if I was venturing into the uncertainty of a black tunnel. This steadiness of the lower notes is cut by an almost defiant series of higher pitches, almost like light that is slowly penetrating the dark ominous of the lower range. The upper range, although hopeful, is not overdone so as to evoke a sense of whimsicality, yet does challenge the darkness much like the moon challenges the darkness of night. 

There is a sense of duality in the piece; dark fighting against light, but presented in a way that encourages reconciliation between the two opposites. Ultimately, the sonata gives the sense that, although darkness and trials may consume us like the night sky, we can still hold onto hope and progress despite opposition. As such, my mosaic reflects a narrative in which I figuratively portray my thoughts and the reconciliation between my fears and motivation to shine in the darkness.  The mosaic shifts through artistic medium in order to present a progression from conflict between dreams and reality to a series of photographs that represent reconciliation. Following the advice of Annie Dillard from the class reading, I sought to sacrifice details for the greater picture by looking for visual , symbolic representations of my conflicted feelings. Rather than looking at objects as they are, I wanted to look at my outside world through abstract eyes with the hope that the sum of images would explain my inner struggle far better than the physical, denotative nature of the subject matter. 

My mosaic begins with a shot of the sunset due to its ability to evoke the sense of conclusion and inevitability of darkness with which sonata opens. After reflecting the sense of growing darkness, the rest of the images in the “conflict sequence” play on the idea of duality by juxtaposing various fears and hopes visually. Not only do the images juxtapose in content and color, but also in form as harshness of reality is presented in photographic form and hopeful wishes represented by photographs of me illustrating. I thought that photographs were easier to manipulate through filters in order to present absence of color in an unfriendly world while illustrations could better represent my vision of the ideal in contrast to a harsher reality.

The “conflict section” starts with the interchange of three of my fears: conformity, loneliness, and failure. In the reality image of the conformity duality, I look down a line of identical trees that are equally wilting. Many times I feel like the trees, unnaturally molded and shaped by the forces of man and nature. The imagination side features a bright illustration of a flower blooming above weeds in a figurative celebration of individualism. The harsh reality of my fear of loneliness is depicted by a shot of me looking at an empty hand with a darker filter emphasizing sadness. The following image is a rough, almost comedic depiction of holding hands with a future family. Although I am not a professional artist, the childlike manner of illustrating is meant to reflect the hopefulness and innocent view in which I once saw my future family and a plea to remember said view. The last image of the “conflict sequence” is a low angle shot of me loosening a tie with a discouraged expression. My suit and tie represent my professional aspirations and the act of loosening depicts a sense of failure and fear of casting off those aspirations. The following image is critical to presenting the narrative aspect of the mosaic as it introduces the “reconciliation phase” of the mosaic. Instead of presenting the hopeful illustration as done previously, I choose to draw a large black hole and cover my notepad with leaves and dirt as a representation of corruption and death. This reflects how darkness can invade our thoughts and influence our outlook on the idealized future. The next image shows me throwing away my notebook; a visual representation of how we have to sometimes abandon the over idealized in order to confront reality directly. While musing on what could be is an important part of life, living with darkness comes when one acts on those dreams. This image and the message it conveys leads us into the “reconciliation” phase of the mosaic.

After the “conflict” pattern is broken, I am forced to confront reality and uncertainty as depicted by the long road into fog. The following image shows a set of footprints in the snow, which is meant to convey a sense of action and venturing into the unknown. I added a filter to emphasize the darkness of the footprints with the whiteness of the snow in order to play on the light/dark motif, but also display how reconciliation with harsh reality sometimes requires stepping into the cold unknown. The final image, the moon against the night sky, ties the entire piece together by not only showing progression from the initial image, but also invoking the sense of hope among darkness talked about above. Although we are consumed by darkness to the point of having our dreams challenged, we can still shine brightly in the night by confronting uncertainty and making our dreams a reality.