It owes its much-quoted sobriquet "The Tempest" to a note from Beethoven's famulus Anton Schindler, to whom the composer advised as the key to the work: "Read Shakespeare's Tempest". But Schindler asked about the Sonata Op. 57 in the same breath, so that in the end it remained unclear which of the two sonatas was really meant.
The preface to the new edition not only explains this question, but also numerous other backgrounds to the work. The musical text is based – in the absence of the autograph – on the first edition as well as the reprints of Simrock and Cappi, which were corrected at Beethoven's instigation. In addition, Haslinger's complete edition is used. Problems of the musical text are explained in detail in the critical notes.

Carl Czerny's remarks on performance round off the edition. With this information, the new single edition offers an excellent starting point for a well-founded study of the work.