Well, Minna, Rienzi was given yesterday and triumphed once more. It is really no small achievement to have produced the opera without a proper Rienzi and yet to have created a furore. I still cannot understand how a success of this kind can have come about without Tichatschek. I can boast that the triumph was due to my opera alone, for Wurda was not a patch upon Tichatschek, although he sang certain things quite well. But the fellow is appallingly wooden! Time and again I thought to myself, "Heavens above, if I only had my Tichatschek here!" The greater Wurda's insufficiency, however, the greater my honour and I confess I am rather proud of it. The rest sang well for the most part, with the exception of the Messenger of Peace, who was very sleepy. The choruses went exceptionally well, the most enthusiastic people being the musicians and singers themselves - a good sign for the long run. I should like nothing better than to see the jubilations there would be here if Tichatschek were doing Rienzi! Cornet counts on some twenty performances of Rienzi this year. The author's royalties will be a tit-bit, won't they?
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 107