 Throughout the movement, glimpses of the Beethoven sonata appear (mostly as the famous rhythmic pattern of the "Moonlight sonata"), juxtaposed with the reappearance of themes and motives presented earlier within the viola sonata.This method of quotation and allusion is a characteristic feature of Shostakovich's late-style period (1969–1975).The finale of Mendelssohn's early Viola Sonata (1824) also quotes from the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata, indicating Shostakovich may have studied this work in preparation for his own.