The Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69, is the third of five cello sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven. He composed it in 1807–08, during his productive middle period. It was first performed in 1809 by cellist Nikolaus Kraft and pianist Dorothea von Ertmann, a student of Beethoven. Published by Breitkopf & Härtel the same year, it was dedicated to Freiherr Ignaz von Gleichenstein, Beethoven's friend and an amateur cellist. The sonata was successful with audiences from the beginning. An early print of the composition titled it "Sonata / per il / Clavicembalo con Violoncello / composta / dal Sig=r / Luigi van Beethoven". Beethoven's two early sonatas were, as usual at the time, virtuoso concert pieces for the piano, with the string instrument playing a supporting role. The third sonata has been described as the first cello sonata to give the two instruments equal importance. A model for later compositions in the genre, it has been performed and recorded often, including versions with period instruments. History Over the course of his life, Beethoven composed five cello sonatas, two of them early as his Op. 5. These two sonatas, composed when Beethoven was age 25, were highly virtuoso concert pieces showing off the pianist, with a cello part of less weight. Beethoven performed them with cellist Jean-Pierre Duport in Berlin in 1796, and dedicated them to Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia who was an amateur cellist himself. Beethoven composed his third cello sonata in A major in Vienna during his middle period, a productive time when he also composed works such as the Piano Trios Op. 70, the Choral Fantasy, as well as his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. It was a time when Beethoven faced increasing deafness. He had to end his career as a pianist with the concert on 22 December 1808 in which he premiered the two symphonies, the Choral Fantasy and other vocal and choral music, as well as his Fourth Piano Concerto. First sketches for the sonata appeared alongside those for the Fifth Symphony and the Violin Concerto in a sketchbook dated September 1807 to early in 1808. Beethoven's sketches show that he continuously revised passages, and further altered his first autograph manuscript, while the finished composition sounds like the result of spontaneous inspiration. He completed the composition in 1808. Beethoven dedicated the sonata to Freiherr Ignaz von Gleichenstein, his friend and an amateur