the MIDI file of Moonlight Sonata is courtesy of Classical Piano MIDI page
by Erin Maloney
The Man sits alone at the grand piano, black and ebony and ivory polished to a gleaming shine. The light from the creamy white pillar candles next to the music stand flicker softly, casting gray shadows dancing among the golden blaze.
His hands, long and slender, tenderly caress the keyboard, cajoling the sweet, melodic strains of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" from it's taut, seasoned hammers and strings. As his hands move deftly over the keys, his body involuntarily moves to the music, feeling the beat in every fiber of his being.
Soft and sweet quietly turns to profound and beautiful with a sense of urgency and longing. As the music becomes more intense, tears well up in his eyes as his hands glean over his beloved rectangles of wood plated in ebony and ivory. Slowly, fiercely, passionately, the music swells from the instrument, filling the hall in which he played with an ethereal sound.
As the music climaxes, he can hardly feel the keys beneath his fingers for the emotion coursing through his body like a jolt of electricity. Slowly, the music rolls over the peak and softly floats back to earth.
The song has ended and as the last, lonely chord dies away, the spell is broken and the multitude once held captive by the music break free in a cascade of sound, their jubilation, their grief pouring forth in an upsurge of applause and tears.
The man silently gazes at the mass of joyful, tearful admirers then stands to acknowlege their adoration with a humble bow. He pauses, for an instant, a tear glistening at the corner of his eye, then gather's his music and quietly slips from the stage. He could feel this was the performance of his life, he had never felt the music so strong before.
It was a pity, really, that the man had the ability to bring a concert hall filled with people to the point of tears, sending them on a roller coaster of powerful emotions and back to earth again. He hadn't heard a note.
