You will say there is of this one and that one and that one and this one –– True enough, a more unusual letter-writer then myself it would be hard to fine –– Surely you have received of the trios [Opus 70] – You know, of course, that one of them was already completed before your departure. But I wanted to wait and send it with the second one –– The latter was finished too a couple of months ago, but I forgot all about sending them to you –– in the end our W[agener] pounced on me –– you would be doing me a very great kindness, and I most are earnestly beg you to do it, if you would postpone until Easter the publication of all the compositions you have received from me, for I shall certainly be with you during Lent; and until then do not let any of the new symphonies [Opus 67, 68] be performed in public –– for if I go to Leipzig it will indeed be a real treat to have them performed by the Leipzig musicians, of whose excellence and goodwill I have been told –– besides I will deal there with the proof-reading at once ––
At last owing to intrigues and cabals and meanness of all kinds I am compelled to leave my German fatherland which is still in its way unique. For I have accepted an offer from His Royal Majesty of Westphalia to settle there as Kapellmeister at a yearly salary of 600 gold ducats –– I have just sent off by today’s post my assurances that I will go, and am only awaiting my certificate of appointment; whereupon I shall make my preparations for the journey, which will take me through Leipzig –– Therefore, so the journey may be all the more glorious for me, I request you, provided that this is not too much to your disadvantage, not to make any of my compositions known to the public until Easter –– In the case of the Sonata [Opus 69] which is dedicated to Baron Gleichenstein, kindly omit the description of him as Imperial and Royal Secretary, for he doesn’t like it –– Abusive articles about my latest concert will perhaps be sent again from here to the Musikalische Zeitung. I certainly don’t want everything that is written against me to be suppressed. But people should bear in mind that nobody in Vienna has more private enemies than I have. This is the more understandable since the state of music here is becoming worse and worse –– We have Kapellmeisters who not only do not know how to conduct but also can barely read a score –– Conditions are worst of all, of course, at the Theater auf der Wieden –– I have to give my concerts there and on that occasion obstacles were placed in my way by all the circles connected with music –– The promoters of the concert for the widows, out of hatred for me, Herr Salieri being my most active opponent, played me a horrible trick. They threatened to expel any musician belonging to their company who would play for my benefit – In spite of the fact that various mistakes were made, which I could not prevent, the public nevertheless applauded the whole performance with enthusiasm – Yet scribblers in Vienna will certainly hot fail to send again to the Musikalische Zeitung some wretched stuff directed against me – The musicians, in particular, were enraged that, when from sheer carelessness a mistake had been made in the simplest and most straightforward passage in the world, I suddenly made them stop playing and called out in a loud voice: ‘Once more.’ – Such a thing had never happened to them before. The public, however, expressed its pleasure at this – But every day things are getting worse. On the day before my concert in the short and easy opera ‘Milton”, which was performed at the Theater in der Stadt, the orchestra so went to pieces that the Kapellmeister and the leader and the orchestra really suffered shipwreck – for the Kapellmeister, instead of giving the beat in advance, gave it later, and then only did the leader come in – Let me have an immediate reply, my dear fellow.
With kindest regards, most devoted servant
Beethoven
Please do not make public anything definite about my appointment in Westphalia until I let you know that I have received my certificate – Accept my good wishes and write to me soon – We shall discuss the question of new works at Leipzig – Of course, a few hints about my leaving Vienna might be inserted in the Musikalische Zeitung – and with the addition of a few digs, seeing that people here would never do anything worth mentioning for me --