Silentium!!!

Farewell, my esteemed friend; pray continue to esteem me worthy of your friendship.  Yours,

BEETHOVEN.

A thousand compliments to the illustrious Princess.

[Footnote 1:  The date reversed, as written by Beethoven, is here given.]

132.

TO THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH.

1814.

I perceive that Y.R.H. wishes to try the effect of my music even upon horses.[1] We shall see whether its influence will cause the riders to throw some clever summersets.  Ha! ha!  I can’t help laughing at Y.R.H. thinking of me on such an occasion; for which I shall remain so long as I live, &c., &c., &c.  The horse-music that Y.R.H. desires shall set off to you full gallop.

[K.]

[Footnote 1:  A tournament was held on the 23d November, 1814, in the Royal Riding School.  Beethoven was probably requested by the Archduke to compose some music for it, which, however, has not been traced.]

133.

TO THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH.

1814.

It is impossible for me to-day to wait on you, much as I wish it.  I am dispatching the work on Wellington’s victory[1] to London.  Such matters have their appointed and fixed time, which cannot be delayed without final loss.  To-morrow I hope to be able to call on Y.R.H.

[K.]

[Footnote 1:  The Cantata Der glorreiche Augenblick, the poetry by Dr. Alois Weissenbach, set to music by Beethoven for chorus and orchestra (Op. 136), was first given in Vienna on the 29th November, 1814, and repeated on the 2d December.]

134.

TO THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH.

(In a different hand) Dec. 1814.

I really feel that I can never deserve your goodness towards me.  I beg to offer my most respectful thanks for Y.R.H.’s gracious intervention in my affairs at Prague.  I will punctually attend to the score of the Cantata.[1] I trust Y.R.H. will forgive my not having yet been to see you.  After the concert for the poor, comes one in the theatre, equally for the benefit of the impresario in angustia, for they have felt some just shame, and have let me off with one third and one half of the usual charges.  I have now some fresh work on hand, and then there is a new opera to be begun,[2] the subject of which I am about to decide on.  Moreover, I am again far from well, but a few days hence I will wait on Y.R.H.  If I could be of any service to Y.R.H., the most eager and anxious wish of my life would be fulfilled.

[K.]

[Footnote 1:  What concert Beethoven alludes to I cannot discover, but no mention of it being made in the very exact Allgemeine Leipziger Musikalische Zeitung, it appears not to have taken place.]

[Footnote 2:  The new opera, with the subject of which Beethoven was occupied, was no doubt Treitschke’s Romulus.]

135.

TO THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH.