In 1796 Beethoven travelled to Prague where he met the Countess Josephine of Clary-Aldringen (later Countess Clamm-Gallas) who played the mandolin. For her, he wrote several works for mandolin and piano, four of which are still extant and have been arranged by Julius Berger for violoncello and piano. As Beethoven had written pieces for a mandolin tuned to G-D-A-E, it was unproblematic to transcribe them for the violoncello. The arrangements are written in the original keys and keep as close to the original as possible.