The two piano sonatas op. 49, described in their first publication as Sonates faciles, are often the first-ever Beethoven sonatas with which advanced piano pupils can demonstrate their ability. Their relatively high opus number ismisleading, however, for both these two-movement works were composed at roughly the same time as the piano sonatas op. 10, between 1796 and 1798. The fact that they were actually published seven years later is presumably thanks tothe business dealings of Beethoven's bro