Be heartily welcomed on the Lake of Lucerne, my dear, great friend. Tristan will once again enjoy and derive strength from Alpine air before he leaves you for ever to shine on others. At Carlsruhe they are afraid that he will not arrive punctually at the appointed time. Devrient, whom I saw here and at Jena, told me so lately. The first performance is wavering between September and December, the birthday of the Grand Duke or that of the Grand Duchess, and I have already announced myself as the inevitable guest. Your dose of gravy, as you put it, was not particularly palatable. At our next meeting I shall have to say much about it, unfortunately of the negative kind. Nevertheless, I hope to be able at the same time to propose to you a different arrangement (if that is the name) with which, no doubt, you will agree. First of all, however, Tristan must be finished, engraved, and performed, and after that we will, without delay, take the Nibelungen affair seriously in hand, and set it right to your satisfaction. The Princess and her daughter are going to Munich next week (Kaulbach is painting the portrait of Princess M.). I stay here till Easter, and then go on a visit to Prince Hohenzollern at Lowenberg, Silesia. From the middle of May to the beginning of June I shall pitch my tent at Leipzig, where all manner of things will happen. Later on, for Whitsuntide, grand Schiller festivities are announced here. Whether they will take place is very questionable, but in any case I shall have to get the music for the festival-play by Holm (VOR HUNDERT JAHRERI) ready, which will be something of an effort. My health, fortunately, gives me no trouble, and I have no lack of patience. The rest may come and will come.
Franz Liszt
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #4234, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 2, No. 287