Dear Steiner!
I need the score of the opera Fidelio for a few days in order to revise a quartet arrangement with it. I shall then return it to you at once –– Please let me have also the score of the pianoforte trio with the two written-out parts of the violin and violoncello [Opus 97], and the score of the violin sonata in G major [Opus 96] –– I need both works just for one evening and can return them to you at once early on the following morning ––
Never doubt my sincerity and my honesty. Thus our connexion will never be severed, I hope, although my poor unfortunate brother is no longer alive ––
Your friend
Beethoven