The first edition of the score is headed Sonata quasi una fantasia ("sonata almost a fantasy") as
piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven, written in 1801. Many sources say that the nickname
Moonlight Sonata arose after the German music critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab likened the effect of
the first movement to that of moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne: „The lake reposes in twilit moonshimmer
[Mondenschimmer], muffled waves strike the dark shore; gloomy wooded mountains rise
and close off the holy place from the world; ghostly swans glide with whispering rustles on the tide,
and an Aeolian harp sends down mysterious tones of lovelorn yearning from the ruins.“
The arrangement of Walter Abt offers various versions:
- a transcription for 6-string guitar, transposed from the key of C#-Minor to A-Minor SCORE
- a transcription for 6-string guitar, transposed from the key of C#-Minor to A-Minor TAB
- an arrangement for 10-string guitar in the original key of C#-Minor.