This is probably Rheinberger's most popular sonatas of the 20 he composed for organ. The Fourth has also achieved wide currency among organists and audiences alike and is compelling in its smaller scope and less-grandiose manner. The Eighth is cast in four movements: Praeludium, Intermezzo, Scherzoso, and Passacaglia. Lasting a bit under a half-hour, it is one of the composer's grandest organ works, though by no means his longest or most sonorously powerful.

If the Fourth divulged a somewhat Brucknerian character in its large washes of sound and sense of religious ecstasy, this sonata can be likened to the spirit, if not the style of Bach in its generally more scaled-down sonorities and contrapuntal writing. The first movement offers a sense of serenity in the mostly subdued character of its thematic material. The other three movements are played continuously, with the serenity of the second contrasted by the gruff and vigorous manner of the Scherzoso, and the concluding Passacaglia crowning the whole work with a sense of the profound, as it grows from quiet depths to ringing heights of triumph in some of the composer's finest thematic manipulations and transformations ever. In sum, this is not only one of Rheinberger's most successful organ sonatas, but one of his most worthy.

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