Most esteemed friend,
On and off I hear that you remember me very kindly and are intent upon gaining friends for me; and I could have wished that, by staying in Dresden a little longer, you had given me an opportunity of thanking you personally and enjoying your company. As I perceive more and more that I and my works, which as yet have scarcely begun to spread abroad, are not likely to prosper very much, I slowly familiarize myself with the thought of turning to account your friendly feeling towards me a little, and, much as I generally detest the seeking and making of opportunities, I proceed with perfect openness to rouse you up in my favour.
There is at Vienna, where you happen to be staying, a theatrical manager, P.; the man came to me a year ago and invited me to produce Rienzi at his theatre in the present spring. Since then I have not been able to hear again from him, but as our Tichatschek goes to his theatre in May for an extensive starring engagement, and thereby the possibility of a good representation of Rienzi would be given, the backing out on the part of this P. begins to make me angry. I presume that he, who is personally stupid, has been subsequently set against my opera by his conductor, N. For this Capellmeister N. has himself written an opera, which, because our King had heard it and disliked it elsewhere, was not produced at Dresden, and the wretched man probably thinks he owes me a grudge for it, although I had no influence whatever in the matter. However trivial such considerations may be in themselves, they and similar ones largely furnish the real cause why works like mine occasionally die in Germany; and as Vienna for pecuniary reasons, apart from anything else, is of importance to me, I go straight to you, most esteemed friend, to ask that you will set Manager P.'s head right, in favour of an early performance of my Rienzi at his theatre. Pray do not be angry with me. I have ventured to send you through Meser the scores of my Rienzi and Tannhäuser, and wish and hope that the latter will please you better than the former.
Richard Wagner
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #3835, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 1, No. 3