Beethoven wrote these three piano quartets at the age of fifteen. Although composed around the time Mozart composed his piano quartets, there are no traces of Mozart's influence. However, Beethoven may have been influenced by Schobert, whose piano quartets were composed some two decades earlier. While they are not masterpieces, these compositions are interesting, worthwhile works. The first Quartet is in E flat major and its movements are marked Adagio assai, Allegro con spirito, and Thema: Cantabile. The D major is the second, and its three panels bear the tempo markings Allegro moderato, Andante con moto, and Rondo: Allegro. The third, in C major, is marked Allegro vivace, Adagio con espressione and Rondo: Allegro.

Overall, this group of three quartets offers much colorful and attractive music, as well as a valuable glimpse of the early stage of Beethoven's artistic development. The writing is rather conventional, with the strings doubling the piano part. The composer's autograph score specifies clavecin and basso rather than piano (or fortepiano) and cello for all three quartets. In addition, it also gives a different order, with the C major coming first, followed by the E flat and D. These works were first published in 1828, a year after the composer's death. When Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, he turned away from the piano quartet genre, thereafter favoring the piano trio.

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