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 Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)
One of his greatest and most technically challenging piano sonatas, the "Appassionata" was considered by Beethoven to be his most tempestuous piano sonata until the twenty-ninth piano sonata (known as the "Hammerklavier"). 1803 was the year Beethoven came to grips with the irreversibility of his progressively deteriorating hearing.