Of all Beethoven's one hundred and ten works, he wrote thirty-two piano sonatas. Of these thirty-two piano sonatas, the thirty-first piano sonata was one of the most important and was composed in 1821, towards the end of Beethoven's life. It is one of Ludwig van Beethoven's last piano sonatas, with its full name: Piano Sonata no. 31 in A flat major, op. 110. I am writing about a video performance – found on YouTube – by Richard Goode in 1993. The performance piece is a sonata which is defined by Kerman as “a piece of chamber music in multiple movements” (Kerman, 427). the first sonata came about in an interesting way. Moritz Schlesinger, in the summer of 1819, had made a request to Ludwig van Beethoven. Schlesinger was looking for some music and thought Beethoven would be perfect for the job. He asked Beethoven to compose the desired music for him and in return he would pay Beethoven. In May 1820 the two agreed that Beethoven would write twenty-five songs and three sonatas for Schlesinger for a total price of one hundred and fifty ducats. Beethoven quickly finished the songs and made them available to his commissioner. He then began work on the three sonatas when he was suddenly struck by an illness known as jaundice. This delayed the completion of the three sonatas that later became known as the final sonatas – some of Beethoven's last works. All three were completed and sent to Schlesinger by the end of 1822. The thirty-first sonata is divided into three separate movements. The first movement starts at 0:00 in the video – the very beginning. This movement is marked as moderate because you are playing at a moderate speed (not too fast but not too slow either). Please... half of the paper... ten. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. Print.Miller, Carole B. "The Classical Period." Mostly wind. Mainly Wind and Web. January 28, 2014. .Miller, Carole B. "The Romantic Period." Mostly wind. Mainly Wind and Web. 28 January 2014. .MrPalika123. “Beethoven - Sonata no. 31 in A flat major op. 110 (Richard Goode).” YouTube. May 26, 2012. Web. January 28, 2014. Rosen, Charles. Beethoven Piano Sonatas: A Brief Companion. New Haven: Yale UP, 2002. Print.Shotwell, C.M. “Musical Tracts of the Romantic Period.” Augusta State University. Augusta State University, October 2010. Web. February 26, 2014. .Steen, Michael. The lives and times of the great composers. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.