Piano Sonata no. 19 in G minor, op. 49 no. 1

The Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49, No. 1, and Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major, Op. 49, No. 2, are short sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven, published in 1805 (although the works were actually composed a decade earlier in early to mid 1797). Both works are approximately eight minutes in length, and are split into two movements. These sonatas are referred to as the Leichte Sonaten to be given to his friends and students. They are his first two numbered piano sonatas with only two movements rather than three or four.
These two sonatas were possibly written around the time Beethoven composed the Third and Fourth sonatas, but because they were published in Vienna in 1805, nearly a decade after they were actually written, they were assigned then-current opus and sonata numbers, which classified them alongside works from the composer's middle period. Very similar circumstances caused Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 to appear as his second, even though it predated the first.
Beethoven often suppressed works in his early years, either revising them later for publication or determining that they were not fit. In fact, he withheld many early works from publication for life. In the case of these two sonatas, it was Kaspar van Beethoven, the composer's brother, who decided they were worthy of publication. Against the composer's will, he presented them to a publishing house, thus allowing posterity to hear works that might otherwise have been lost or destroyed.