There is some doubt about the time these marches for piano, four hands, were composed, though their publication date of 1804 and their style suggest Beethoven probably wrote them the year before. He produced only about five or six works for piano, four hands, apparently because the genre did not appeal to him. His motivation to produce these works came when he received a commission from music patron Count Johann Georg Browne.
If Beethoven had been cool to this realm, he did not divulge a lack of enthusiasm or inspiration here. All three of these marches are well-crafted, not designed to serve merely as entertaining salon fare. Of course, by this time (assuming their composition did occur in 1803) Beethoven had already written his first two symphonies and was working on (or about to work on) his Third ("Eroica"). It is no surprise then, that he approached the commission with the idea of providing something of substantial value. (Robert Cummings)