Every middle class Viennese home had a piano and daughters who were taught to play to give them better value in the marriage market. Men learned to play also, and there was a 4-handed genre for courtship where hands crossed over in playing. This was as close as anyone in that society would get to sex, outside of the marriage bed or the brothel. Mozart had written a few pieces for this home market, and a generation later Franz Schubert would write serious masterpieces for piano 4-hands in addition to innumerable marches, polonaises and variations.
Beethoven tried his hand at this just once, and he probably attached an opus number to such a trivial piece to add an air of pretentiousness that would sell more copies for the home market. It’s in two short movements, and the opening should set you giggling. Lou had no idea this simple motif would lead years later to his most famous piece.
That 4-handed piano thingy never worked for me as a courtship tool...however, playing bass while a guy plays drums is very musically satisfying! LOL!
(Back to the creaky movie!)