Ludwig van Beethoven, Brief an Joseph Karl Bernard, Wien, 12. April 1824, Autograph, Fragment

Beethoven had received a medal from the French king Louis XVIII in gratitude for and recognition of his subscription copy of the Missa solemnis op. 123. He proudly reported that the medal had been awarded to him in addition to the usual payment - Beethoven considered this to be great honour and rightly so. He tells Bernard that he will send Schindler by with the medal so that Bernard can see it and fittingly report it in the newspaper. Bernard was editor-in-chief of the Wiener Zeitung, which did in fact contain an account of the French king's gesture in the middle of April.

In a further passage, which has not survived in its entirety, Beethoven turns to the text of the Oratorio "Der Sieg des Kreuzes" ("The Victory of the Cross") which Bernard had written for him. Beethoven did not want to set the libretto to music unless extensive changes were made (even contemporaries write that the text was not exactly brilliant). However, Beethoven did not want his criticism to be taken as generally referring to the work and its author and is now afraid that Bernard has misunderstood him.