Beethoven wrote the Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 (commonly known as "Sonata Pathetique") early in his career in 1798, when he was only 27 years old. Utilizing its own unique motif, the sonata often draws comparisons to Mozart's piano sonata K. 457, which may have indeed influenced the slow movement in particular. Beethoven's publisher liked the piece for its tragic tone, and modern critics consider it one of the early manifestations of Beethoven's nature as a Romantic-era composer.
Although many listeners consider Beethoven's Ninth Symphony to be his finest work, the Fifth and Seventh Symphonies, which lack the Ninth's vocal chorus, still offer incredibly passionate and dramatic examples of Beethoven's art. The Fifth Symphony's opening movement appeals to the audience's emotions of frustration and anxiety with a simple yet engaging four-note motif that is developed with the greatest skill. The second movement of the Seventh Symphony, on the other hand, carries a very strong yet somber tone, which constantly builds, a masterpiece in an elegiac mode.
Officially titled Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia," Op. 27, No. 2, the sonata became known as the "Moonlight" on account of Ludwig Rellstab's 1832 description of the work as the shining of real moonlight upon a lake. Breaking with the traditional arrangement of movements, which typically bracket a slow section between two faster ones, Beethoven's Moonlight becomes progressively faster and more animated, each movement acting as an introduction to the next.
Beethoven composed 16 string quartets, and the last five are regarded as the apex of his third and final period. Of these later quartets, Op. 131 was Beethoven's own favorite and has also been that for many of his admirers because of its scale and variety. Although some themes unify all seven movements, the sixth movement epitomizes the whole piece, a roughly two-minute section with a beautiful, sad and tragic tone. The Band of Brothers episode "Why We Fight" features this movement in order to engage audiences with the tragedy, death and waste featured in that episode.