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.
Robert Birchall
Birchall enjoyed a collaboration with composer Ludwig van Beethoven, which began in May 1805 with the publication of Beethoven's Violin Sonata in A major (Op. 47). Birchall also published the original English editions of the piano adaption of "Wellington's Victory" (Op. 91), the Violin Sonata in G Major (Op. 96), the Piano Trio in B flat major (Op. 97), and Anton Diabelli's piano adaptation of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. He purchased the copyrights for these four works from Beethoven in 1815. During his later years, Birchall's correspondence with Beethoven also mentioned other possible projects, but these never came to fruition; this was partly a result of Beethoven's high fees and Birchall's declining health. In addition to Beethoven's works, Birchall printed various glees, country dance books, and Italian vocal works. He also published works by George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach, including the first English edition of the "Well-Tempered Clavier" in 1810 edited by Samuel Wesley and Charles Frederick Horn. After Birchall's death, his employee Christopher Lonsdale took over the firm.