Opus 16a – Quartet in E flat major for piano, violin, viola and cello, transcription from the previous quintet, late 1796 – early 1797; published as above in detached parts, 1801; in the score in GA. GA. no. 78 (series 10/5) – B. 16 – KH. 16 (p. 38) -N. 16 – P. 89.

IIn the absence of other information, we place the birth of this work, which is the reduction to a quartet for piano and three strings, made by Beethoven himself, of the previous quintet, in the same period as the latter. However, it could also be that it is a later adaptation, for practical reasons of diffusion, made between 1797 and the publication of 1801, at least after the first performance of the quintet on April 6, 1797. The piano part is identical in the two works; that of the four wind instruments has naturally undergone changes passing into the three strings: not only because of the reduction in the number of instruments, but also because it was not possible to maintain the melodic attitudes and the effects of the original sonorities unaltered.