It was not until 1814, five years after the Sonata op. 81 “Les Adieux”, that Beethoven, then at the height of his popularity during the Congress of Vienna, returned to the piano sonata. The highly lyrical Sonata in E minor, the last piano sonata ...

These pieces, known as the Kurfürsten Sonatas, were composed in 1783 while Beethoven was still studying with Christian Gottlob Neefe in Bonn. “He will certainly become a second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, if he progresses as he started off“, Neefe ...

Beethoven’s four-movement Sonata in A-flat major op. 26 belongs to his most popular works. It is dedicated to Prince Lichnowsky, one of his most generous patrons and the dedicatee of, for example, the Grande Sonate pathétique op. 13 and Symphony ...

If the nickname “Appassionata” was appropriate for one of Beethoven’s Sonatas, it would be for his E-flat major Sonata op. 7 rather than his famous work in F minor op. 57. This was Carl Czerny’s opinion who felt that op. 7 was written in a ...

Composed in 1809–10, Beethoven’s Sonata op. 81a expresses his very personal feelings. He titled its three movements “Das Lebewohl” (The Farewell), “Die Abwesenheit” (The Absence) and “Das Wiedersehn” (The Return) in reference to the hasty departure ...

With his sonatas op. 31 composed in 1802 Beethoven for the last time grouped together piano sonatas under one opus number. The centrepiece of the collection is undoubtedly the dramatic Sonata in D minor nicknamed »Tempest« which already fascinated ...

In a letter to Breitkopf & Härtel Beethoven called his small sonata op. 79 “Sonate facile” or “Sonatina”. With its moderate technical difficulty, the work is very well suited for advanced beginners. We have to thank Muzio Clementi for the creation ...