Best of friends,
I am relieved to hear by a few lines that I did not offend you some time ago. I live at such a distance from my friends that I always have a thousand anxieties, especially when I do not receive news from them for long. Tell me, for heaven's sake, have I written anything to you about Berlioz or Raff that you might have misunderstood as meaning that I had something against them? I have spoken as best I could from a distance, and, especially with regard to Berlioz, my intentions are the best. Therefore, a few lines, please!
About Berlin, everything is now settled, but Tannhäuser will not be fully rehearsed until about December. Considering this delay, I do not want to trouble Herr von Hullsen with new conditions just yet; but when the time comes, I shall ask you to let me know once more whether you can afford the sacrifice of going to Berlin. Belloni, as you know, is here; he has again talked much to me about Paris, and, to my astonishment, I hear that you still have plans of world conquest for me in your head. You are indefatigable indeed! To the translation of Tannhäuser I have no particular objection, especially as in Roger I might expect the best Tannhäuser that I could think of. In addition to this, Johanna, I confess, would not be amiss. Herwegh is also doing something for the Paris performance. He proposes to make a richly coloured prose translation of the poem; however, I cannot yet think seriously of it.
My instructions as to the performance of Tannhäuser have already induced the Leipzig people to abandon the opera, a very modest sign of acknowledgment of ill will on their part. I am pleased to hear, on the other hand, that Schindelmeisser in Wiesbaden, after reading my pamphlet, has again begun the rehearsals from the beginning. Did you like the pamphlet? As you think of studying Tannhäuser again, I assume that it will be useful to you for that purpose with the stage-manager; the singers also may derive excellent and much-needed service from it. But why has B. become silent once more? Gradually my solitude here is becoming unbearable, and if I can afford it, I shall go to Paris for the winter. How delighted I should be to hear something from my Lohengrin played to me by a good orchestra! Confess that I know how to bear much. My nerves are not in the best condition, but I have begun again to work at my poem for an hour or so every day. I can find no rest till it is ready, and I hope it will be soon.
Richard Wagner
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #3835, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 1, No. 85