After the publication of his Bagatelles op. 33 in 1803, Beethoven returned to this genre again only twenty years later. The stimulus came from outside, twice:: on the one hand, he received a request in 1820 to supply pieces for a piano method; on the other hand, in 1822 the Peters publishing house asked for “solo pieces for piano,” whereupon Beethoven offered “bagatelles or trifles”. These two groups of Bagatelles (nos. 1–6 as revisions of older pieces for Peters and nos. 7–11 for the piano meth...