Ludwig van Beethoven, Brief an Johann Nepomuk Kanka in Prag, Wien, 8. April 1815, Autograph

Beethoven regrets that he did not meet Kanka and considers travelling to Teplitz via Prague in the summer. He once again thanks Kanka for his legal aid in the dispute with Kinsky's heirs concerning his annuity. Prince Kinsky was one of the three patrons who agreed to pay Beethoven an annuity in 1809. On his death in 1812, the heirs were not prepared to continue paying his part of the annuity. Beethoven took them to court and won in January 1815. Kanka had advised him during the dispute. In April 1815 Kanka spent time in Vienna but did not meet the composer. Kanka was the curator for one of Kinsky's heirs who had not yet come of age and so had to be careful not to meet Beethoven in public.

Beethoven asks Kanka whether he has any wishes regarding a composition, referring to current political events, "would you like to have me compose the monologue of a king who has fled [the flight of Louis XVIII] or the perjury of a usurper [Napoleon Bonaparte's return to France]".