Beethoven asks his friend Zmeskall to get hold of six or twelve copies of his newly published work from Artaria, as he does not have any money. He desperately needs these author's copies as he has to give one to Salieri. According to the BGA the work in question is either the Violin Sonata op. 12, which is dedicated to Salieri, or the Variations on "La stessa, la stessissima" WoO 73 from Salieri's opera Falstaff. This allows us to put a date on it, as op. 12 appeared around the new year 1798/99, WoO 73 in February 1799.
