When Beethoven composed these three pieces, the Piano Quartet was a rarely used ensemble.

[2] Beethoven modeled his piano quartets after a set of Mozart violin sonatas published in 1781, with Beethoven's C major work written in the same key and borrowing some thematic material from Mozart's Violin Sonata No.

[4] Beethoven later reused material from the C major quartet for two of his early Piano Sonatas: No.

They are listed in the order of the original manuscript: In the exposition of the first movement, Beethoven wrote a piano sonata with string accompaniment, but in the development and recapitulation, they play a more individual role.

[2] Beethoven reused the theme of the second movement for the Adagio of his Piano Sonata in F minor, Op.

[2] The quartet in D major begins, more conventionally than the others, with a movement in sonata form, with a rather short development section.

The second movement, marked Andante con moto, is in F-sharp minor, but has a middle section in A major.

The final movement is a rondo, with a theme introduced by the piano and repeated by the violin.