Ludwig van Beethoven wrote 32 mature piano sonatas between 1795 and 1822. (He also wrote 3 juvenile sonatas at the age of 13[1] and one unfinished sonata, WoO. 51.) Although originally not intended to be a meaningful whole, as a set they comprise one of the most important collections of works in the history of music.[2] Hans von Bülow called them "The New Testament" of piano literature (Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier being "The Old Testament").[3]
Beethoven's piano sonatas came to be seen as the first cycle of major piano pieces suited to both private and public performance.[2] They form "a bridge between the worlds of the salon and the concert hall".[2] The first person to play them all in a single concert cycle was Hans von Bülow; the first complete recording is Artur Schnabel's for the label His Master's Voice.