Beethoven had been friends with Franz and Antonie Brentano since 1810. After the Brentanos had moved to Frankfurt in 1812, Franz Brentano acted as an intermediary between the composer and the publisher Simrock in Bonn. In this letter Beethoven apologizes for still not having sent the Mass op. 123 for Simrock which he had already announced the previous year. He accounts for the delay due to his frequent illnesses. He has also not had any time to carefully check the engraver's model because of other commissions (the Piano Sonatas opp. 110 und 111 for Schlesinger - Beethoven refers to them as his bread-and-butter commissions). He says that he wants to discuss the question of his fee with the publisher Simrock again, as there are also other people interested in the mass. Finally Beethoven asks Brentano to trust that he will soon pay back the loan. Franz Brentano loaned Beethoven money several times to help him through his financial difficulties. In the case of the Mass op. 123, Brentano had paid him an advance on the money that Simrock had promised. After the business agreement with Simrock had fallen through, Beethoven paid back the loan in two stages.
