Of Weber's four Piano Sonatas, the last is probably his most significant contribution to the genre. It is a masterful work that Weber completed in 1822 after working on the piece sporadically for three years. With this Sonata, Weber returns to the four-movement format of his first two Piano Sonatas. Further, this piece shows that Weber is clearly out of Beethoven's shadow and that he is forging his own way in the genre. The four movements are more varied than those found in his earlier three sonatas, and they extend for Weber the content possible in this form.

The first movement (Moderato) is a sonata with expansive themes. Any evidence of using classical models is absent in this highly romantic movement which contains some of Weber's finest writing for piano. It is also Weber's longest sustained movement for piano in which he explores the themes and tonal areas with utmost finesse and expression. The technical brilliance essential to the earlier sonatas is part of the movement, but does not obscure the sheerly musical values in it. Here Weber is clearly creating a style that composers of the next generation, such as Chopin, would exploit in their own works for solo piano.

The second movement, Menuetto (Presto vivace ed energico), diverts from Weber's usual order, that has the slow movement follow the first. This juxtaposition anticipates the situation that later Romantic composers exhibit with the order of inner movements in setting up the Finale. As a more driven, demonic movement, the Menuetto is a compelling piece that makes sense in coming after the first movement, rather than after the more rhapsodic slow movement Weber composed for this Sonata. The Menuetto is an agitated, driven piece, in the minor mode, and no longer the lighter movement which had served as a kind of aesthetic respite before the Finale.

Instead, the lyrical third movement (Andante - quasi Allegretto - consolante) exists in contrast to the preceding two. In it Weber also departs from his previous practice with a more episodic treatment of form. While less ambitious than the previous movements in the Sonata, the slow movement provides balance to this highly charged work. The Finale (Prestissimo) which follows is a rondo that provides a fitting conclusion to the Sonata as a whole. It is a motivically driven movement in which Weber uses his own brilliant technique to excellent effect and it is subtlety, rather than bravura which distinguishes this movement from those he had used to conclude his other sonatas for piano.

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