The sonata's name comes from Beethoven's later practice of using German rather than Italian words for musical terminology. ("Hammerklavier" literally means "hammer-keyboard", and is still today the German name for the fortepiano, the predecessor of the modern piano.) It comes from the title page of the work, "Große Sonate für das Hammerklavier", which means "Grand sonata for the fortepiano". The more sedate Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101 has the same description, but the epithet has come to apply to the Sonata No. 29 only. "Hammerklavier" was part of the title to specify that the work was not to be played on the harpsichord, an instrument that was still very much in evidence in the early 1800s. The work also makes extensive use of the "una corda" pedal, with Beethoven giving for his time unusually detailed instructions when to use it.