The other mandolinist was Josephine of
Clary-Aldringen, the wife of Count Christian Philipp and mother of
Eduard Clam-Gallas; the couple invited Beethoven in on his first visit to Prague to
their palace, and he dedicated the aria "
Ah! perfido" to the count's wife. Beethoven wrote his mandolin works near the beginning of his career. The works are numbered in the
WoO system of 'works without
opus number', which designates compositions written throughout his career which were never published with an opus number. For example,
Ah! perfido Op. 65, dedicated to countess Josephine and written about the same time as the mandolin sonatas, wasn't given an opus number until 1819. Beethoven was not known for his mandolin works, and ultimately focused elsewhere. However, Joseph Braunstein said of these pieces that, although "not great music ... they are valuable miniatures that fit well, biographically and stylistically, into the period of
Beethoven's Opus 1, his first sonatas, the
String Trio in E-flat, the song "
Adelaide", and the
Piano Concerto in B-flat." ==Mandolin works==