Kaspar Karl van Beethoven, Brief an Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, Wien, 14. Oktober 1803, Autograph

The Leipzig publisher Härtel had asked Karl van Beethoven, who managed his brother Ludwig's business affairs, for a new symphony and a concerto. Karl now offers him two symphonies (including op. 55 and another one; at this time op. 67 and 68 were still in the sketch stage) or alternatively a symphony and a concertante (we know of material for this concertante for piano, violin and violoncello; Beethoven did not, however, complete this work). For both works Karl asks for 700 florins and stipulates the condition that they must be published at Easter time.

In addition Karl angrily asks for the name of the critic in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, also published by Breitkopf & Härtel, and who has written a bad review of Beethoven's Oratorio "Christus am Ölberge" ("Christ on the Mount of Olives") op. 85. Karl stresses that a bad review is of no significance, as the very large number of orders for his brother's works belies the critic's words. However, "it is very noticeable that you include such rubbish in your newspaper". He asks for a discreet answer as his brother does not know that he wanted to find out who the critic was.

Karl van Beethoven briefly writes about the "Warning", which his brother has had published in several newspapers to warn people about an unlawful edition, a collection of Beethoven's works for piano and violin, by the Mainz publisher Zulehner. Härtel had drawn the composer's attention to this unlawful edition.