Ludwig van Beethoven, Brief an Joseph Karl Bernard in Wien, Mödling, 16. Juni 1819, Autograph

Beethoven asks his friend Bernard, to prepare a petition for an exit permit for his nephew so that the latter can have a passport. He is indignant about the delay as he has already asked for one. In order to get his nephew out of the mother's clutches (the composer had fought a legal battle with Johanna van Beethoven over the guardianship of her child who was his nephew), in 1819 Beethoven considered sending Karl to a boarding school in Landshut. However, the child needed a passport in order to be able to leave the country. The Magistratrefused to allow this because of a petition by the mother.

Further Beethoven explains he does not know where to send Karl. He does not want to leave him at the boarding school with Kudlich where he has been up till then, nor does he want to ask Giannattasio del Rio for help, in whose boarding school Karl had also spent some time.

Beethoven ends the letter with a reference to a meeting on Saturday. He refers to the Oratorio "Der Sieg des Kreuzes" ("The Victory of the Cross"), the text for which he had received from Bernard. Beethoven was to compose this oratorio as a commission from the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Although the project had been planned for a long time, it was never realized.