The music of Beethoven is still around with us today, even one hundred and seventy-two years after his death. When we think of classical music the name Beethoven comes to mind. movies, television, even video games use Beethoven's music to exploit the emotions that the music conjures up and connects these feelings to a product, situation, etc. While playing a video game I stumbled on one of many examples where Beethoven's music is used. In the video game, Resident Evil on Sony Playstation, the finding and playing of thirty seconds from the first movement of Piano Sonata, Op 27 No. 2 also known as the "Moonlight" Sonata opens a secret passageway for the player.

             The plot of Resident Evil is to find the rest of your crew in a haunted house filled with zombies. To keep from being eaten you have to shoot the zombies before they get close to you. This is one of the many games considered to be influencing children toward violence. In the very first level of the game we find a room with the sheet music that the player plays on the piano. While the excerpt is being played we see and hear the thunder and lightning in the background. In this example, Beethoven¡s "Moonlight" Sonata is used to give us a sense of the agony and obsession that does not seem to resolve.

             The "Moonlight" Sonata was written in 1801 during Beethoven's early period as he was emerging as a major composer. The first movement of the "Moonlight" Sonata holds a particular attraction for amateur pianists who itch to play it because of its relative simplicity. The name "Moonlight" was not given by Beethoven, but was later adapted as a funny contrast. The first movement is slow and brooding which gives the listener a feeling of restlessness and slow tortured agony. These feelings are conjured up so easily just by the playing of a few cords and shows us how music can be exploited. Music has a way of communicating to us on many levels.