You are going to travel; and I too am supposed to travel, and chiefly for the sake of my heath. Meanwhile with me everything is still at sixes and sevens. My master [Anderson footnote: “The Archduke Rudolph”] wants me to be with him and my art makes the same demand. I am partly at Sch?nbrunn, partly here. Every day there are fresh enquiries from foreigners, new acquaintances, new circumstances connected with my art as well. Sometimes I feel that I shall soon go mad in consequence of my unmerited fame; fortune is seeking me out and for that very reason I almost dread some fresh calamity – In regard to your Iphigenie the position is as follows: that is to say, I have not laid eyes on it for at least two and a half years; I lent it to someone, but to whom? That is the great question. I have made enquiries here and there and have not yet found it. But I hope to recover it. If it is lost, you will be compensated – All good wishes, kind Z[meskall]. We shall meet again, I hope, and in such circumstances that you will find that in the meantime my art has made further progress –
Remain my friend as I am yours.
Beethoven