PS.
I
received only yesterday your letter dated January 30th -- If requested
to do so, the postal dispatch office here can testify to the truth
of my statement, for I naturally had to inquire why the letter
had been kept back for so long. I was then given quite credible
information about the arrival of the letter and everything else;
from which it appears that the letter was not held up at all --
and this fact I can have in writing at any moment, if I ask for
it -- though I can't fully understand the connexion between your
Paris letter and the long delay in your latest reply -- yet the
whole procedure is altogether far too humiliating for me to waste
even one word upon it -- And in any case you have been acquainted
with a reason for the delay -- If any mistake was made, then it
was due to the fact that my brother was wrong about the time
which the copying took -- the fee is much lower than what
I usually accept -- Beethoven is no braggart and he despises whatever
he cannot obtain solely by his art and his own merits --
Send me back, therefore, all the manuscripts you have had from
me, including the song [WoO 130] -- I can not and will
not accept a lower fee. You can have the manuscripts, but
only for the fee we have already agreed upon -- As the oratorio
has now been dispatched, it can remain with you until you have
had it performed, which you are at liberty to do even
though you may not wish to keep it --After the performance
you can return it to me; and if you are then willing to pay
the fee of 500 gulden V.C. [Viennese Gulden] on the understanding
that you publish it only in score and that I
retain the right to publish the pianoforte arrangement here in
Vienna, please let me have a reply [Anderson footnote:
"Op. 85 was published in score by Breitkopf & Härtel
in October, 1811. This firm published the pianoforte arrangement
at the same time."] -- There are no intermediaries, and
they're never have been any, to prevent a close association between
you and me -- No -- the obstacles are to be found in the nature
of the transaction -- which I am neither able nor willing
to alter -- All good wishes.
Ludwig
van Beethoven