Nikolaus Johann van Beethoven, Stammbuchblatt für Lorenz von Breuning, Wien, 1. Oktober 1797, Autograph

Transcription: "Freund lebe stets glücklich! - mit heil um= / =kränzt sey die Reihe deiner lebensjahre! / Auch die weiteste Entfernung zerreiße nie / die sanften Bande der Liebe - Nie die Rosen= / =Ketten reiner inniger Freundschaft, die uns / als Brüder Banden, - und oft - oft erinnere / dieß dich an deinen dich ewig liebenden / Freund und Bruder / Jean van Beethoven m[anu propr]ia [links quer:] Carpe Diem"

("Friend, may you always live happily! - Filled with salvation may be the years of your life! / May the greatest distance never / tear apart the soft bands of love - never the chains of roses= / =of dear friendship that made us / brothers, - and often - may this often remind / you of your ever loving / friend and brother / Jean van Beethoven by his own hand [horizontal left:] Carpe Diem")

Both Beethoven (see W 7) and his brother Johann gave Lorenz von Breuning a register sheet at the end of his stay in Vienna. The youngest of the Breuning brothers had lived in Vienna since the autumn of 1794 to study medicine and now returned to Bonn. (He died in the spring of 1798 at the age of only 21 years.) (FG)