"Mondscheinsonate" - Lithographie von Franz Stassen nach einer eigenen Zeichnung oder einem Gemälde, Berlin, 1904

In the 19th century, the two writers Ludwig Rellstab and Wilhelm von Lenz compared the beginning of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in C sharp Minor op. 27 No. 2, the so-called Moonshine Sonata, with a passage across the lake in the moonlight. Franz Stassen seized this interpretation of the piece in his painting.

Ludwig Rellstabs described in 1842 : "In general, everybody felt that the Sonata in C sharp Minor had something to do with the night, and that it resembled a bleak magical scenery in the moonlight." Stassen generalized this theme: The muse of Beethoven is floating over a scenery with inshore waters like a Goddess of the moon. Absorbed in his music, the composer is depicted in the foreground. The title which can be seen below the painting, gives the hint, that this is really supposed to be the conversion of the "Moonshine Sonata".(S.B.)