One of his greatest and most technically challenging piano sonatas, the Appassionata was considered by Beethoven to be his most tempestuous piano sonata until the twenty-ninth piano sonata (known as the Hammerklavier). Instead, Beethoven's autograph manuscript of the sonata has 'La Passionata' written on the cover, in Beethoven's hand. 8, Pathétique, the Appassionata was not named during the composer's lifetime, but was so labelled in 1838 by the publisher of a four-hand arrangement of the work. The first edition was published in February 1807 in Vienna. 81a) it was composed during 18, and perhaps 1806, and was dedicated to Count Franz von Brunswick. 57 (colloquially known as the Appassionata, meaning 'passionate' in Italian) is among the three famous piano sonatas of his middle period (the others being the Waldstein, Op. For other uses, see Appassionata (disambiguation).
