The Sonata in G minor, Op. 39 was Eberl's last composition, A. Duane White described it as "his most outstanding work for piano solo", and "a significant forerunner of the Romantic era" (New Grove). Its formal innovations include a slow movement in the remote key of E major (with hints of Field and Chopin as well as Beethoven's "Waldstein" Sonata), which also makes a "cyclic" return in the course of the finale, and the use of a single motive (a rising sixth and falling second first heard in the opening bars), which unifies all three movements. |
