Moonlight Sonata 1940
Moonlight Sonata was the German code name for the air raid on Coventry in 1940. The material of the piece is based mostly upon two rhythms from the first movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and the rising and the ascending and descending minor thirds of the air raid siren.
The piece was inspired by some incoherent and disturbing child memories of the Southampton blitz. The “fox trot” was inspired by the popular music of the time, and the concluding “music hall” tune is inspired by the pianist of a very rowdy pub called The Horse and Groom who apparently carried on regardless when the bombs were falling all around.
It is dedicated to the memory of my mother, aunt, uncle, and grandmother who protected me
throughout this terrible time.
Frank Harvey.
