Has the devil got hold of you all, gentlemen? - that
you suggest that I should compose such a sonata - Well, perhaps
at the time of the revolutionary fever - such a thing might have
been possible, but now, when everything is trying to slip back
into the old rut, now that Buonaparte has concluded his Concordat
with the Pope - to write a sonata of that kind? - If it were even
a Missa pro Sancta Maria a tre voci, or a Vesper or something
of that kind -- in that case I would instantly take up my paint-brush
-- and with fat pound notes dash off a Credo in unum. But, good
Heavens, such a sonata -- in these newly developing Christian
times -- Ho ho -- there you must leave me out -- you won't get
anything from me -- Well, here is my reply in the fastest tempo
-- The lady can have a sonata for me, and, moreover, from an aesthetic
point of view I will in general adopt her plan -- but without
adopting -- her keys -- the price would be about 50 ducats --
for that sum she may keep the sonata for her own enjoyment for
one year, and neither I nor she will be entitled to publish it
-- after the expiry of that year -- the sonata will be exclusively
my property -- that is to say -- I can and will publish it --
and in any case -- if she thinks it will do her any honor -- she
can ask me to dedicate the sonata to her -- Now may God protect
you, gentleman -- My sonata is beautifully engraved [Opus 22]
-- but it took a nice long time -- do send my septet into the
world a little more quickly -- because the rabble is waiting for
it -- you know that the Empress has it [Opus 20] -- and there
are rascals in the Imperial City as there are at the Imperial
Court -- So far as you are concerned, I will guarantee nothing
in that respect - so make haste - Herr Mollo recently published
my quartets again [Opus 18], but full of mistakes and errata -
on a large scale and on a small scale. They swarm like little
fishes in water, that is to say, ad infinitum. - Questo è
un piacere per un autore - that I do call engraving, to tell the
truth, my skin is quite full of pricks and scratches - thanks
to the beautiful editions of my quartets - Now All good wishes
- and remember me as I do you - Until death your faithful
Bthvn