WoO 57 Andante in F major, for piano, composed between November 1803 and spring 1804, published in Vienna by Bureau d’art et d’industrie (Wiener Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir), September 1805. Catalogue references: GA No. 192 (Series 18/10) – B. 170 – KH. (WoO) 57 – L. IV, p. 323/35 – N. p. 151 – T. 112.

The original manuscript is unknown. The sketches can be found, along with those for the first and last movements of the Sonata op. 53, in the Eroica sketchbook (located in Kraków: Biblioteka Jagiellońska).

The title Andante favori, by which the piece was first named in a 1807 edition by Breitkopf & Härtel and under which it is still commonly known today, supposedly came from Beethoven himself, according to Czerny. He appears to have favored the piece and enjoyed playing it in private gatherings.

According to Ries and Czerny, this Andante was originally intended to serve as the second movement of the Sonata in C major op. 53. A friend pointed out to Beethoven that the work would be too long; although he initially rejected the comment, the composer eventually, after some reflection, replaced the piece with the current introduction (Adagio molto) to the Rondo. In truth, the static and monochromatic character of the Andante didn’t blend well with the vivid brilliance of the other two movements.

As Romain Rolland wrote, its main flaw wasn’t that it took up too much space, but that it was out of place—something some people (wrongly, in our view) still haven’t acknowledged. The form is, like that of the finale of the sonata, a rondo (and this, the presence of two fairly long movements in the same form in a single work, may have damaged the overall structural balance, despite their different characters).

The refrain theme contains, as Vincent d’Indy noted, an analogy with an episode in the finale of a sonata by Friedrich Wilhelm Rust (Dessau, 1739 – Dessau, 1796).

There is also a contemporary version for string quartet, catalogued as Hess Anhang 10.