For a very long time I have been expecting a letter from you, but in vain. Then I received from Leipzig on your behalf a letter dated August 1st, which I was informed that you were away. Since the time when I sent you a frightfully long letter I have not yet received a reply. Yet I need one –– so far I have not been able to send you, as I should have done, the songs belonging to the second consignment, for owing to the hurry and bustle I no longer remember which songs I have already sent you. In the third consignment there are only the grand characteristic sonata and the Italian songs which are ready for you [Opus 83]. You must have received everything else –– Hence I am now anxiously awaiting a reassuring reply –– As our post is just as uncertain as everything else, please enclose the you address to me in another cover directed to Herr von Oliva, to be delivered to offenheimer & Herz in Bauernmarkt – As I am seldom in Vienna during the summer and the autumn, that is the safest way –– I hope to have a few lines from you soon ––
Your most devoted
Beethoven