I agree with your post about Beethoven Ryan.

According to Kristine Forney and Joseph

Machlis, Beethovens sketchbooks reveal how he worked out his ideas to shape the Classical
genres for a new Romantic era. His compositional activity fell into three periods: the first
reflected the Classical elements he inherited from Haydn and Mozart; the second is characterized
by more Romantic gestures, including strong dynamic contrasts, explosive accents, and enlarged
forms; and in his last period, his music is more introspective and expressively chromatic (2008,
173). This quote explains why Beethoven was a transitional figure between the Classical and
Romantic periods.
According to Kristine Forney and Joseph Machlis, In the dreamy first movement,
perhaps the most famous of any of his works, Beethoven makes the piano sing; the melody spins
out continuously, moving through various keys and registers. A short contrasting idea intervenes
between two statements of the melody. While the form of this movement has elements of
development and recapitulation, it does not present the opposition of themes nor keys typical of a
first movement. Instead it looks ahead to the modified strophic song forms favored by Romantic
composers (Forney et al. 2008, 173). This quote about Moonlight Sonata also explains why
Beethoven was a transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic periods.
Works Cited
Forney, Kristine, and Joseph Machlis. The Enjoyment of
Music Essential Listening Edition. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
2008. (accessed January 10, 2013).