ble him partly or
wholly to renounce the proposed salary. In the mean time the title of
_Imperial Kapellmeister_ would be very gratifying to him; and if this wish
could be realized, the value of his abode here would be much enhanced in
his eyes.

If his desire be fulfilled, and a salary granted by His Majesty to
Beethoven, he will renounce so much of the said 4000 florins as the
Imperial salary shall amount to; or if this appointment be 4000 florins, he
will give up the whole of the former sum.

4. As Beethoven wishes from time to time to produce before the public at
large his new great works, he desires an assurance from the present
directors of the theatre on their part, and that of their successors, that
they will authorize him to give a concert for his own benefit every year on
Palm Sunday, in the Theatre "an der Wien." In return for which Beethoven
agrees to arrange and direct an annual concert for the benefit of the poor,
or, if this cannot be managed, at all events to furnish a new work of his
own for such a concert.

50.

TO ZMESKALL.

December, 1808.

MY EXCELLENT FRIEND,--

All would go well now if we had only a curtain, without it the _Aria_ ["Ah!
Perfido"] _will be a failure_.[1] I only heard this to-day from S.
[Seyfried], and it vexes me much: a curtain of any kind will do, even a
bed-curtain, or merely a _kind of gauze screen_, which could be instantly
removed. There must be something; for the Aria is in the _dramatic style_,
and better adapted for the stage than for effect in a concert-room.
_Without a curtain, or something of the sort, the Aria will be devoid of
all meaning, and ruined! ruined! ruined!! Devil take it all!_ The Court
will probably be present. Baron Schweitzer [Chamberlain of the Archduke
Anton] requested me earnestly to make the application myself. Archduke Carl
granted me an audience and promised to come. The Empress _neither promised
nor refused_.

A hanging curtain!!!! or the Aria and I will both be hanged to-morrow.
Farewell! I embrace you as cordially on this new year as in the old one.
_With or without a curtain!_ Your

BEETHOVEN.

[Footnote 1: Reichardt, in his _Vertraute Briefe_ relates among other
things about the concert given by Beethoven in the Royal Theatre "an der
Wien," Oct. 22, 1808, as follows:--"Poor Beethoven, who derived from this
concert the first and only net profits which accrued to him during the
whole year, met with great opposition and very slend