In 1791, during the Bonn Carnival, Count Waldstein, a German nobleman and patron of the arts, organized an event for which he needed a ballet. The Count, Beethoven's most influential early supporter, commissioned the young composer to write the music for the Knights' Ballet, but kept his identity secret as a ghostwriter. After the performance on March 6, 1791, in the Redoutensaal, the Bonn Theater Calendar attributed both the piece and the music to Count Waldstein, although it soon became known that Beethoven was the true composer.
The approximately eleven-minute orchestral piece consists of eight sections: March, German Song, Hunting Song, Romance, War Song, Drinking Song, German Dance, and Coda. Count Waldstein, himself a music lover, amateur pianist, and composer, recognized Beethoven's genius and later helped him gain access to the Viennese aristocracy through letters of recommendation. As a member of the Teutonic Order, Waldstein conceived this Knights' Ballet for a meeting of the Order in Bonn.
Beethoven accepted the commission, likely knowing he would be composing the music in secret for his benefactor. The score used for the premiere was probably employed at that first performance. Following this, in November 1792, shortly before his 22nd birthday, Beethoven left Bonn to study with Haydn in Vienna—he would never return to his hometown.