In the years 1790-1792, Beethoven composed several works, showing greater maturity in them - he did not publish any of them. He also received his first commissions (probably on Neef's orders) - the Bonn Literary Society commissioned him a cantata in 1790 on the occasion of the death of Joseph II, as well as another cantata to celebrate the subsequent accession of Leopold II as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. These two cantatas were never performed at the time and were lost until the 1880s, when Johannes Brahms described them as "Beethoven through and through", recognizing in them a prophetic style that distinguished his music as distinct from the classical tradition.
