Ludwig van Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 was written in 1808, during his so-called “middle period”. The sonata was composed in the same year as the Piano Trios Op. 70 and the Choral Fantasy, and the same year in which the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies were premiered.
This sonata was first performed in March 1809 by cellist Nikolaus Kraft and pianist Dorothea von Ertmann, and dedicated to Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein, who was a cellist himself.
In the course of his life, Beethoven composed five sonatas for cello and piano. The Op. 69 was the first he had written since his Op. 5 over a decade earlier.
The contemporary cellist Steven Isserlis describes it as the first cello sonata in history to give the two instruments equal importance.
The work contains three movements, with an 18-bar slow introduction before the third movement:
Allegro ma non tanto
Scherzo. Allegro molto (in A minor)
Adagio cantabile – Allegro vivace.
Here are Yeol Eum Son, Piano, and Doo-Min Kim Cello to perform this music for you:
