Your Excellency!
After my work Wellingtons Sieg in der Schlacht bei Vittoria had been produced here in Vienna with the greatest success, several of my esteemed patrons and, in particular, the late Prince von Lichnowsky and also his consort, who is still living, believed that it was bound to be well received, particularly in England, because it not only celebrates the Duke of Wellington, one of her greatest military commanders, but also commemorates an event which is so gloriously renowned in the history of England and has been such a splendid contribution to the liberation of Europe. They advised me, therefore, to send it to H.R.Highness the Prince Regent; and the Princess was of the opinion that this could best be arranged through Your Excellency’s kind intervention. So Your Excellency was also kind enough to dispatch it to H.R.Highness in person. It was delivered to the Prince Regent with a written dedication and with an enquiry whether H.R.Highness would graciously permit this dedication to appear when the work would be printed and given to the public? – I am now taking the liberty of acquainting Your Excellency with the outcome of this step.
After waiting for a long time, but in vein, for some news from London about this matter and when several rumours about it, which were detrimental to me, had already been circulated here both verbally and in writing, and probably by my enemies, I learnt in the end both from letters which English people residing in Vienna had received from their country and also from the public newspapers and subsequently from letters written to me by my pupil Ries, who is living in England, that H.R.Highness the Prince Regent had given my work to the musical directors of the Drury Lane Theatre in London to have it produced there. The performance took place on February 10th under the direction of the brothers Smart and was repeated on the 13th of that month. At both performances all the movements had to be repeated and were received each time with thunderous applause.
Meanwhile I was being frequently approached from several quarters with offers to publish the Schlacht von Vittoria at last, an on the most favourable terms. But I was still convinced that I must wait for the reply of H.R.Highness conveying his permission for the dedication. In vain did I wait! – By that time the report of the performances which had been given in London and of the extraordinarily good reception of the work had been circulated here by German newspapers; and a communication from London, dated February 14th, which has been reprinted in the Morgenblatt, even remarks that the old English families prided themselves on the circumstance that the Schlacht von Vittoria which had been composed in Vienna had been produced and dedicated to the Prince Regent at a time when Austria was still an ally of France! – All the papers were full of the praises and the extraordinary applause which this work had won in England. Yet no one thought of me, its composer; nor did I received the least mark of gratitude or acknowledgment of indebtedness; nay more, not even a syllable came to me from London in reply! –
Having heard of these incidents and believing that I could no longer hope for a reply, I considered that I owed it to my countrymen not to keep back the word from them any longer. I accepted the pressing invitations to publish it; and on that account I gave it to a publisher.
But how startled I was when I learnt recently from the letter of an Englishman to one of his countrymen in Vienna the repeated confirmation of the extraordinarily good reception of my work in London, with the additional remark, that a pianoforte arrangement of it had appeared in that city! – So as compensation for my having done those Englishmen the honour of sending them my Schlacht von Vittoria and of dedicating it to their Prince Regent, of affording the London pubic the enjoyment of a work of art calculated to interest it in so many respects, and of being the cause why, thanks to this work, the largest theatre in London had twice, by packed houses, brought the Directors enormous profits, I have not only not received a syllable of thanks but am even obliged, since a pianoforte arrangement of my work has appeared in London, to return the fee for it to the German publisher and to bear without compensation the heavy expense of having the copy made which was sent to London. And, moreover, when it is published I shall have the mortification of having to suppress, because I have not received his permission, the dedication to the Prince Regent which thanks to the London newspapers is now generally known – Nay more, I have already been placed in the distressing position of having to reply merely with a shrug of the shoulders to every enquiry about my Schlacht bei Vittoria which was sent to London, since all I can produce are Press notices and the reports in foreign letters which have been shown to me – Had I dedicated my work to one of the allied monarchs at the Congress, I should certainly have been speedily and honourably rewarded.
I herewith return my most dutiful thanks to Your Excellency for your gracious intervention in this matter and regret that Your Excellency’s magnanimous exertions and your favourable disposition in regard to myself have been frustrated by the lack of consideration on the part of those who ought to have felt themselves honoured. Yet I venture to appeal a second time to Your Excellency’s favour in this matter so that through the carelessness with which this affair is being handled in London I may not have to suffer loss of honour, property and financial gain.
I have the honour to remain with the deepest respect
Your Excellency’s most humble servant
Louis van Beethoven