Anton Eberl

Sonata in B flat major op. 35

Among Vienna's many composers and pianists of the time, Anton Eberl (1765-1807) was the one considered most worthy of comparison with Beethoven. His Sonata in B flat major, Op. 35, the last of seven sonatas with violin, was composed around 1805 and dedicated to the Princess Bretzenheim (Maria Walburga). This was one of the final pieces Eberl composed before his premature death at the age of forty-two. Unlike the music of many of his lesser contemporaries, in its duration, formal and harmonic novelty and its lively relationship between violin and keyboard, the Op. 35 sonata shares much of the musical ambition and quality of Beethoven's works in this genre.