In a very open and personal letter, Beethoven tells his good friend Karl Amenda about his life in Vienna. He writes of his increasing deafness and the problems it is causing. Not without pride he reports of the successes he has with his works. The profits from them as well as the money he has received from his patron Prince Lichnowsky have removed all his financial concerns.
He also tells him thankfully that one of his childhood friends (Stephan von Breuning) has moved to Vienna; he has a true friendship with him, whereas others such as Nikolaus Zmeskall or Ignaz Schuppanzigh are seen by Beethoven as "mere instruments on whom, I play if I so wish [...] I value them only according to what they afford me".
He wishes he could visit Amenda but does not see much chance of undertaking any longer journeys on account of his bad hearing, unless Amenda would accompany him. Beethoven asks Amenda not to maintain strict silence on the subject of his deafness. In the last paragraph he asks Amenda not to pass on the quartet which he has given him as a leaving present (op. 18 no. 1, early version, today BH 84), as he has completely revised it in the meantime. He promises to send Amenda an edition of the new version.
