On my own initiative I had composed for M[aelzel] a movement of the S[chlacht] s[ymphony] for his panharmonicon without being paid for it – When he had had it for some time he brought me the score from which he had already begun to engrave the work, and wanted to have it arranged for full orchestra – Previously I had already hit on the idea of battle, which, however, could not have been used for his p[anharmonicon] – We came to an agreement to have this work, and several more of mine, performed for the benefit of the w[ounded]. But just then I was plunged into the most dreadful financial embarrassment – When I was forsaken by the whole world here in Vienna and still awaiting a bill of exchange etc., Maelzel] offered me 50 ducats – I took them and told him that I would either pay him back the 50 ducats here in Vienna or, in the event of my not travelling with him myself, give him the work to take to London – and that in the latter case I would give him a draft to an English publisher – who would pay him the 50 ducats. I received back from him the score as it had been composed for his panharmonicon. Well, during the season c[concerts] were in full swing; and it was then that H[err] M[aelzel]’s scheme and his character were revealed – Without my consent he had a notice entered on the posters that the work was his property. As I was enraged at this, he had to have those posters removed. He then inserted ‘out of friendship and for his journey to London’. This I permitted, still thinking that I was free to choose the conditions on which I would give him the work – I remember that during the printing of the notices we had violent arguments, but there was too little time to do anything about the matter – I was still composing the work and in the heat of imagination was wholly absorbed in my task – and scarcely gave the matter a thought – Meanwhile immediately after the first c[oncert] in the U[niversity] I was informed from all quarters and by reliable people that everywhere he had spread the report that he had paid me 400 gold ducats – Whereupon I sent the following notice to the daily paper, but the journalist did not insert it – because M[aelzel] is on very good terms with everybody – Immediately after the first c[oncert] I returned his 50 ducats to M[aelzel] – and informed him that having now become acquainted with his character in Vienna I would never travel with him. I had every reason to be furious that without consulting me he had inserted in the notices that all the preparations for the c[oncert] had been badly made. Even his low and disloyal character is displayed in expressions such as the following: ‘I shit on V[ienna] and I’ll see to it that people in London are told that here in V[ienna] one is paid 10 gulden; I did not do this for the wounded but for the sake of the money’ – Furthermore, I told him that I would give him the work to take to London, but only on certain conditions – of which I would inform him – He then maintained that it was a friendly gift, and, without consulting me at all about it, had this wording inserted in the paper after the second concert [Anderson footnote: “On December 12, 1813. After this sentence there is another one which has been deleted but can be deciphered: ‘Everything now goes to prove that his scheme was to get possession of the work for 50 ducats, a thing which I myself never suspected’.”] – As M[aelzel] is an ill-bred fellow, quite uneducated and without refinement, one can imagine how he behaved to me during that time and thus infuriated me more and more – and who would allow himself to be compelled to give a friendly present to such a man? – Well, I was then given the opportunity of sending the work to the Prince Regent – So it was no longer possible to given Maelzel this work unconditionally. He then went to you and made certain proposals. He was told on what days he could present himself to fetch the reply. – But he never came – He left Vienna and had the work performed at Munich. How did he get hold of it? It was impossible to steal it – Well, Herr M[aelzel] kept a few separate parts at home for some days – and he then employed an inferior musical mechanic to put the work together with the help of these parts; and he is now hawking the work throughout the world – Herr M[aelzel] promised me certain hearing aids. [Anderson footnote: “Cf. Letter 459.”] And in order to encourage him I arranged the Siegessymphonie for his p[anharmonicon] – At last his mechanical aids were completed, but they were not of any real use to me – In return for this small service Herr M[aelzel] considered that once I had arranged the Siegessymphonie for a large orchestra and had composed the Schlacht as well, I ought to have made him the sole owner of the latter. Well, even though I had felt that to a certain extent I was under an obligation to him in consideration of his mechanical hearing aids, this debt has now been discharged, seeing that at Munich he made a profit of at least 500 gulden A.C. with the Schlacht which he had either stolen from me or patched up in a mutilated form – So in this way he has recouped himself – Even here he had the impudence to declare that he possessed the Schlacht. Nay more, he showed a copy of it to several people – but I did not believe his story – and I am right in so far as the whole work has not been composed by me but has been pieced together by somebody else – Moreover the honour he claims for himself alone might in itself be a sufficient reward. The Hofkriegsrat never once mentioned me. Yet all the items on the programmes of the two c[oncerts] were my compositions – And if Herr M[aelzel], as he has given out, has postponed his journey to London on account of the Schlacht, that statement too is a good joke. Herr M[aelzel] stayed on until he had finished his patchwork, because the first attempts had not been successful –
Beethoven