(To Baumeister)
March 12, 1812.
P. P.
Please send me the overture to the epilogue Ungarn’s Wohlthäter, it must be hurriedly copied in order to be sent to Gratz for use there in a concert for the poor. I count myself altogether too happy when my art is enlisted for such charitable purposes. You need, therefore, only tell H. I. High, our gracious lord, about it and he will certainly be glad to have it delivered to you, the more gladly since you know that all the property of my small intellectual faculties is the sole property of H. I. Highness—as soon as the overture is copied I will immediately return it to H. Imp. Highness.
In a note to the Archduke he excuses his absence the two previous days because he was “unexpectedly” ill, “at just the time when he was about to go” to him. In another he has “oftener than usual” waited upon him “in the evening hour, but no one was to be found.” In another “certain unexpected circumstances prevent” his attendance “to-day, but,” he says, “I shall make use of the gracious privilege of waiting upon you to-morrow evening.” In still another:
I have suffered much during the last few days, twofold I may say because I could not follow my sincerest desire to devote a great deal of time to you; but I hope I shall be through with it (I mean my illness) this spring and summer.
The last of these selections affords another illustration of the usefulness of the Archduke’s library to the composer. Its date has also some importance in the discussion of the famous love-letter; and it is the final notice of Beethoven before his departure from Vienna for the summer.
(To Baumeister)
Sunday, June 28, 1812.
I beg of you most politely that you lend me the two trios for pianoforte, violin and violoncello of my composition for to-day. The first is in D major, the 2nd in E-flat, if I am not mistaken, H. Imp. Highness has written copies of them in his library. Also the sonata in A major with pianoforte and violoncello—separately printed—also the sonata in A minor with pianoforte and violin, is also only printed separately. You will receive everything back again to-morrow morning.