[K.]


271.

TO THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH.

Mödling, Aug. 31, 1819.

I yesterday received the intelligence _of a fresh recognition and homage[1]
offered to the admirable qualities of your head and heart_. I beg that
Y.R.H. will graciously accept my congratulations. They spring from the
heart, and do not require to be suggested! I hope things will soon go
better with me also. So much annoyance has had a most prejudicial effect on
my health, and I am thus far from well; so for some time past I have been
obliged to undergo a course of medicine which has only permitted me to
devote myself for a few hours in the day to the most cherished boon of
Heaven, my art and the Muses. I hope, however, to be able to finish the
Mass[2] so that it can be performed on the 19th--if that day is still
fixed. I should really be in despair[3] were I prevented by bad health from
being ready by that time. I trust, however, that my sincere wishes for the
accomplishment of this task may be fulfilled. As to that _chef-d'oeuvre_,
the variations of Y.R.H., I think they should be published under the
following title:--

Theme or Subject
composed by L. van Beethoven,
forty times varied,
and dedicated to his Instructor,
by the Illustrious Author.