The sonatas for piano & cello No. 1 and No. 2, Op. 5, are two sonatas for cello and piano written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1796, while he was in Berlin. While there, Beethoven met the King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm II, an ardent music-lover and keen cellist. Although the sonatas are dedicated to Friedrich Wilhelm II, Ferdinand Ries tells us that Beethoven "played several times at the court, where he also played the two cello sonatas, opus 5, composed for Duport (the King's first cellist) and himself". Although Jean-Pierre Duport was one of the King's teachers, it is now thought to have been his brother Jean-Louis Duport who had the honor of premiering these sonatas.

In the early 19th century, sonatas for piano and instrument were usually advertised as piano sonatas with instrumental accompaniment. Beethoven's first violin sonatas, for instance, were published as "sonatas for piano with accompaniment by the violin." The cello sonata was especially so plagued, as it grew out of sonatas for continuo; as late as the beginning of the 19th century it was still common for the cello in cello sonatas to double the left hand of the piano part, with the piano right hand playing obbligato figurations and melodies. Beethoven, indeed, is credited with composing one of the first cello sonatas with a written-out piano part.

The Sonata for Piano & Cello No. 3 in A major, Op. 69, is composed 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.

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.[6]:162 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 cellist, who also assisted the composer in financial matters. The previous year he had arranged an annuity for Beethoven from a group of sponsors which included Archduke Rudolf of Austria, a pupil of Beethoven. The composer had planned to dedicate his Fourth Piano Concerto to Gleichenstein, but felt that he had to honour the Archduke with the dedication instead, because he had shown particular interest in the Concerto. Beethoven explained to Gleichenstein his regret but announced: "... another work is appearing in which you will be given what is due to your – and our friendship".

The sonata was first performed on 5 March 1809 as part of a benefit concert for the cellist Nikolaus Kraft, who performed it with pianist Dorothea von Ertmann, a student of Beethoven. Kraft, known for "technical mastery" and a "clear, rich tone", was the cellist for whom Beethoven had written his Triple Concerto, published in 1804, and Beethoven's first work to use advanced cello techniques. A performance of the cello sonata in 1816 was played by Joseph Linke, the cellist in the Razumovsky Quartet, and Carl Czerny. The pianist wrote in metronome markings, regarded as approved by the composer, and noted that a slight rubato playing would increase interest and expressiveness.

Breitkopf & Härtel published the cello sonata first in Leipzig. The first edition had many mistakes, including the opus number misprinted as 59. Beethoven was annoyed, but the mistakes could be corrected only in a later edition. The work appeared the same year also printed by Artaria, entitled "Sonata / per il / Clavicembalo con Violoncello / composta / dal Sig=r / Luigi van Beethoven". A critical edition was published in 1971 by Henle Verlag, edited by Bernard van der Linde, based on the edition of Beethoven's complete works (Sämtliche Werke) by the Beethoven Archive the same year. These editions relied on the earlier prints, the autograph manuscript even if regarded as still a work in progress, as well as the correspondence of Beethoven and his first publisher regarding errors.

The sonata is formally the most expansive of Beethoven's cello sonatas, but also the most melodic one, and was successful with audiences from the beginning. A performance takes about 25 minutes. Violinist Mark Kaplan noted: "In general, the writing in op. 69 is thinner than in the early cello sonatas ... greater compositional technique allowed Beethoven the possibility of using fewer notes with confidence." Cellist Steven Isserlis described the work as the first cello sonata in history to give the two instruments equal importance. It has remained a model in the genre, for works by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy and Shostakovich.

The Sonatas for cello and piano No. 4 in C major, Op. 102, No. 1, and No. 5 in D major, Op. 102, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven were composed simultaneously in 1815 and published, by Simrock, in 1817 with a dedication to the Countess Marie von Erdődy, a close friend and confidante of Beethoven.

The two sonatas were composed between May and December 1815. The first copy by Beethoven's copyist Wenzel Rampl was made in late 1815 but was then subject to further alterations by Beethoven. A subsequent ‘good’ copy was supplied in February 1816 to Charles Neate for proposed, though unrealized, publication in London. Beethoven then made further small alterations prior to their eventual publication by Simrock in Bonn.

During the period 1812 to 1817 Beethoven, ailing and overcome by all sorts of difficulties, experienced a period of literal and figurative silence as his deafness became overwhelmingly profound and his productivity diminished. Following seven years after the A Major Sonata No. 3, the complexity of their composition and their visionary character marks (which they share with the subsequently completed piano sonata Op 101) the start of Beethoven's "third period".

The critics of the time, often perplexed by Beethoven's last compositions, described the sonatas in terms such as the following from the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung:
"They elicit the most unexpected and unusual reactions, not only by their form but by the use of the piano as well…We have never been able to warm up to the two sonatas; but these compositions are perhaps a necessary link in the chain of Beethoven's works in order to lead us there where the steady hand of the maestro wanted to lead us."

Although played less often than Sonata No. 3, Sonatas Nos. 4 and 5 are now essential elements in the basic repertory of works for cello and piano.