Beethoven was in his early thirties when he wrote the Op. 27 and Op. 31 sonatas. To most observers his life must have seemed sweet at this time. He was working in a stable and increasingly appreciative environment. In 1800 Prince Lichnowsky settled an annuity of 600 gulden on him; his Akademie (benefit concert) at the Burgtheater on 2 April 1800 further cemented his position as one of Vienna's leading musicians; and with the prestigious commission and favourable reception of his ballet Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus (‘The Creatures of Prometheus’) Op. 43 he scored his first big public success. Foreign music publishers were beginning to take an interest in acquiring his works, and reviews in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung were becoming more positive. This was also a highly productive period. On-going projects such as the Op. 18 string quartets and the third piano concerto (Op. 37) were completed in 1800. The next two years saw the composition of the second symphony (Op. 36), a string quintet (Op. 29), five violin sonatas (Opp. 23, 24 and 30), two sets of piano variations Opp. 34 and 35, and no fewer than seven piano sonatas (Opp. 22, 26, 27, 28 and 31).

But in contrast to the outward trappings of a flourishing career, Beethoven secretly faced personal turmoil as he struggled to come to terms with the onset of deafness.