This work, completed on August 16th, 1814, appeared for the first time in June, 1815. It is in two movements, and is one of the first works in which Beethoven gave bi-lingual _tempo_ indications (Italian and German), the other example being _Les Adieux_ Sonata, Opus 81. On one occasion, in 1815, when the Englishman Neate was discussing the meaning of music with Beethoven, the composer admitted somewhat vaguely that he "never worked without a picture in his mind." Be this as it may, the composer was always greatly enraged when other people attempted to fix pictures to his music, as did the publisher who gave the title "La chasse" to the unchristened overture, Op. 115. The first movement has a tender wistful charm and romantic feeling; it is the very poetry of sound. The first subject with its three themes is square-cut, exactly 24 bars in length, ending with a perfect cadence in the tonic key. The development is closely knit, and the overlapping phrases with their diminution and augmentation, which bring in the return of the first subject, are as wonderful as they are convincing. Schindler relates that Beethoven, referring to these two movements, said: "The first might represent 'Combat between Heart and Head,' and the second, 'Dialogue with the beloved one.'" Be this as it may, the Rondo, judging from the interior evidence, was written first. In many of his sonatas the only connection apparently aimed at between the various movements is that of right contrast and suitable key-relationship. 28th SONATA, Opus 101, in A major. _Allegretto ma non troppo--Vivace alla Marcia--Adagio ma non troppo--Allegro risoluto._ Dedicated to Freund Dorothea Ertmann and performed for the first time as new on February 18th, 1816; it was not published until February, 1817. With this Sonata we reach the third period of Beethoven's works, that in which reflection and philosophy play such a great part. Many passages in some of his latest works reach such a massive spaciousness that they seem to lose all touch of human comprehension. Beethoven was seeking a new style, in striving after which his music became more and more contrapuntal. One cannot help connecting his use of the fugue in many of his later works with this new phase. But it was not the fugue of Bach, but one filled with sublimity and mysticism in which he attempted to render the spiritual force more and more concentrated, the meaning sometimes becomes completely dissipated in his attempt to grasp and hold it. Such is not the case, however, with the fugue with which this Sonata ends. It grows out of the chief theme of the Finale and forms the development portion in this combination of the Fugue and Sonata form proper.