The Musical Presentation of the Imagery of “Moonlight” in the Classical and Impressionist Periods--Taking Beethoven’s Sonata “Moonlight” and Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque Clair de Lune as Examples

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-541-6_35How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Moonlight; Beethoven’s Sonata “Moonlight”; Debussy Suite Bergamasque (Clair de Lune); Aesthetic Conception

Abstract

Different people have completely different feelings towards music, and music under the same imagery also gives people new interpretations due to the composer’s different understandings. This issue has received widespread attention, but there is still a relative lack of comparative research on linking songs together. This article will start with two pieces written by Beethoven, a representative figure of the Vienna Classical School, and Debussy, a representative figure of the French Impressionist School, both of which have the imagery of “moonlight”. By using literature and score analysis methods, a comparative analysis is conducted on the creative techniques and content expressions of the two composers, showcasing the different musical aesthetics of the two periods. This article analyzes that different pieces of music that embody the same imagery can be constructed in a way determined by the composer and reflect different cultural connotations. In order to provide case studies for the comparative study of music aesthetics in different periods, and to offer some assistance to performers in playing different styles of music, as well as to provide a reference for music learners in the learning process and enhance their understanding of music.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ying Gao
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/26
TI  - The Musical Presentation of the Imagery of “Moonlight” in the Classical and Impressionist Periods--Taking Beethoven’s Sonata “Moonlight” and Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque Clair de Lune as Examples
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 5th International Conference on Culture, Design and Social Development (CDSD 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 303
EP  - 312
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-541-6_35
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-541-6_35
ID  - Gao2026
ER  -