Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major

Piano Sonata No. 28 marks the opening of Beethoven’s “late period,” when he produced a sequence of major works—piano sonatas, string quartets, cello sonatas, the Symphony No. 9, and Missa solemnis—whose visionary scope and technical mastery have probably never been surpassed. Composed in 1816, Sonata No. 28 was dedicated to Dorothea von Ertmann, a former Beethoven pupil widely admired for her concerts in Vienna’s aristocratic salons. She must have been an exceptional pianist, to judge from the Sonata’s expressive depth and, especially in the finale, its considerable technical demands. The first of the four movements is marked to be played “with the warmest feeling”; Beethoven described it to a friend as “impressions and reveries”. Next comes an incisive march, and then another slow movement, leading to a recall of the Sonata’s opening. This now leads directly into the finale, marked “quick, but not too much, and with determination”; its central development section, an impressive and dramatic fugue, is followed by a powerful reprise and conclusion.