I must first earnestly ask pardon, Sir, for venturing to trouble you with a weighty request. Emboldened by the advice of my sister Ottilie and by her assurance that you would not object if you were able to do so, I take the liberty of begging you to be so kind as to obtain for me a passport from Leipzig for my journey to Riga. The chief obstacle, my earlier liability to military service, is removed by my marriage, and the only difficulty now would be that I have been abroad for some time.
I should therefore like to pass once more for a Leipziger, Richard Wagner, age twenty-four, appointed kapellmeister to the theatre at Riga by contract, who wishes to travel thither via Berlin but is uncertain as yet whether to go by sea through Lubeck or overland through East Prussia. If other obstacles should arise I trust in your knowledge and skill to overcome them to my advantage.
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 42