I
am delighted that you, sir, have confidence in me, although I
am sorry not to be able to offer you my help unreservedly -- You
imagine that it would be easy to make your way here. But that
would be very difficult, for Vienna is swarming with teachers
who try to make a living by giving lessons -- If it were certain,
however, that I were going to remain in Vienna for good, I would
let you come here and try your luck. But as I shall probably leave
here next winter, I could then do nothing more or you myself --
I can't advise you to take the risk of refusing an appointment,
since I cannot promise you one to take its place.
That
one should not be able to improve oneself to some extent at Braunschweig
seems to me a rather extraordinary idea. Without desiring in the
least to set myself up as an example to you I can assure you that
I have lived in a small unimportant town and -- that entirely
by my own efforts I achieved almost all that I have achieved both
there and in Vienna -- I am telling you this purely in order to
console you, should you feel the urge to concentrate on the art
of music -- Your variations show talent, but my objection is that
you have altered the theme. Why did you do so? -- What a man is
fond of must not be taken from him; besides, it amounts to varying
the theme before one has started to compose variations -- Should
I be in a position to do something else for you, you will find
me, as I am in all such cases, most willing to help you as well.
Your
most devoted
Ludwig
van Beethoven