Beethoven's musical style
The compositions that Beethoven wrote in his formative period can be generally characterized by the composer's efforts to master the predominant classical language of the period. His works from this period can be subdivided into two, based on the composer's residence. First, various juvenalia, written when the adolescent Beethoven was in residence in Bonn and heavily indebted to the works of contemporaries, especially Mozart and his teacher, Christian Gottlob Neefe. These early efforts can be seen in a set of three piano sonatas and piano quartets (WoO 36) that Beethoven wrote before 1792. The Quartets, for instance, are each specifically modelled after three Violin sonatas Mozart published in 1781 – K 296, 379 and 380 – and Beethoven would later draw upon this familiarity in the composition of several of his own Violin Sonatas.
Piano Sonatas Nos. 13 and 14 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's opus number 27 is a set of two piano sonatas. They were published separately in March 1802. Both sonatas are entitled "Sonata quasi una Fantasia", which roughly translated as sonatas in the style of a fantasia. The second sonata is one of the most famous piano works in the repertoire and often called the "Moonlight sonata", a contentious name not given by the composer himself. The first sonata remains far less performed than the second and the two sonatas are not commonly performed together.