Your Excellency!
With regard to the income guaranteed to me by your late consort you were so gracious as to declare that you fully realized that it was right and fair that the sum now due to me should be paid in Viennese currency, but that it was necessary to have the consent of the authorities of the Obervormundschaft.
As I am convinced that the authorities of the Obervormundschaft, who merely represent in their persons their wards, the princes, will have to submit to being guided by those very principles which were the foundation of the conduct of the late Prince, I believe there is no doubt that these authorities will confirm his decision. For with the help of well-known, respected and honourable men I can provide proof of, and I myself can swear to, the promise and the intention of the late Prince –– which should be a law to his children and his heirs –– Moreover whatever may perhaps be lacking in the legal form of this proof we’ll most certainly be supplemented by the lofty principles of the Prince’s family and by their own propensity to perform noble actions.
Admittedly there is some justification for a totally different view, because the particular circumstances connected with the estate have been affected by present conditions and because owing to the very sad and unforeseen death of the late Prince and, moreover, owing to the present situation, so many charges have had to be laid upon the bequeathed property; and these charges render it extremely necessary, and even imperative, to retain all financial resources for the moment.
For this reason far be it from me to put forward at the moment any claims greater than those necessitated buy my own maintenance and lay down in the permanent contract, the legal effect of which cannot in the very least to be disputed by the heirs of the late Prince.
My request is that Your Excellency would very kindly arrange that the arrears of my income since September 1, 1811, calculated in Viennese currency according to the valuation in force on the day the contract was signed and I’m mounting to 1088 gulden, 42 kreuzer in Viennese currency, be paid to me, and that for the present the question whether and to what extent this income should be paid to me in Viennese currency should be deferred until such time when the estate has been wound up and when it will be possible, therefore, to refer this matter to the authorities and to have my just claims in this case accepted by the full consent and the declaration of that body.
Since His Excellency, the late Prince, gave me the 60 ducats, which I myself reported, merely as an advance of part of the income granted to me and to be paid entirely in Viennese currency, and since – as every intelligent person will certainly assure Your Excellency – that understanding must either be accepted in its entirely or at any rate cannot be allowed to redound in any way to my disadvantage, it is clearly understood (and Your Excellency will admit) that I regard those 60 ducats only as part payment of that contribution which in the income promised to me entirely in Viennese currency I should have to demand as an addition to the provisionally fluctuating rate. Therefore there is no question of this amount being included in the lump sum which has now unquestionably depreciated.
In view of your noble disposition Your Excellency will not fail to recognize the justice of my proposal and my endeavor to postpone a discussion of this matter, as long as my circumstances permit, in order to suit your convenience; and by virtue of that same noble disposition which prompts you to favour the fulfilment of the promise given to me by the late Prince, you will understand the necessity in which I am placed by my present situation, a necessity which compels me once more to apply for the immediate remittance and payment of the arrears of contribution, which are not being called in question and which are extremely necessary for my subsistence.
I look forward with joyful expectation to the granting of my petition and with unbounded regard I have the honour to sign myself
Your Excellency’s wholly devoted servant
Ludwig van Beethoven