Ludwig van Beethoven, Brief an Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, Wien, 9. Oktober 1811, Autograph

Beethoven thanks his publisher in Leipzig for the invitation but has to decline it much to his regret. He tells him of the position he hopes for with Archduke Rudolph. The Archduke had been coadjutor at the court of the Archbishop of Olmütz since 1805 with the right of succession. When the current archbishop died in September 1811, Beethoven was very hopeful that he would become the Archduke's musical director, future Archbishop of Olmütz. However, Rudolph declined the succession this time (he did not want to take on the burden of the office yet; it was only in 1819 when the position became vacant once again that he accepted it).

Beethoven was obviously shocked by this decision in October 1811, "the first roll of thunder that I hear is that the whole church and its service has suddenly vanished in front the gracious gentleman, and that nothing will come of the whole thing.".

Beethoven says how he has been commissioned to write a composition for the opening of the theatre in Pest (op. 117, op. 113,6). The request came shortly before his departure for Teplitz and in addition had to be carried out quickly , but "once I had spent 3 weeks in Teplitz and was feeling better, I sat myself down, contrary to the doctor's orders, to help the moustaches who are very close to my heart.".

Beethoven is disappointed with the edition of his Piano Sonata op. 81a which has just appeared. He had wanted to have the German and French titles underneath each other on the title page. Instead of this the editions had been produced with two separate title pages - one in German, one in French.

He is very surprised that the Choral Fantasia op. 80 has been dedicated to the King of Bavaria without anyone having asked him beforehand. The Sonata op. 81a should also not have been dedicated to the Archduke (Beethoven is mistaken in this case; in April 1811 he had instructed the publisher to add such a dedication). Furthermore the date noted in the autograph score had not been included in the edition.

Regarding op. 85 Beethoven adds a note for a correction. He is angry about Rochlitz' review of a chorus in his oratorio, but he stresses that he does not really care. "and now criticize as long as you want, I wish you much pleasure, even if it affects one a little like a mosquito bite, at least it's soon over". Beethoven informs him of a letter to Kotzebue, asking him to pass it on. In a postscript he asks about the publication date of the Mass op. 86 and of the Egmont Overture op. 84.

He asks for the completed score of Egmont to be sent to Goethe, as already requested, "How can a top German publisher be so impolite, so rude towards the top German writer? So send the score post haste to Weimar".

The originally planned dedication of the mass may be altered, as the woman to whom it was to have been dedicated was now married. At the right time a new dedicatee will certainly be found.