Dear Friend,
Seidl informs me that he is renouncing his candidature for Mannheim.
He does well, and removes a stone from my heart, for — although gifted, he has no experience at all.
All the more strongly do I commend Fischer to you. After I had been promised that he should be made a Musikdirektor, he has merely been given a place as chorus-practiser (Chorrepetitor); which has offended me! Fischer is thoroughly experienced, well up in the repertory, and an out and out reliable man. I answer for him! Please tell him of this my recommendation, and — procure him the musical conductor's post to be shared with Langer.
His full name is: Franz Fischer; his exact address I do not know; but Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten (his relations) will see to it.
Best and heartiest greetings from
Yours
sincerely
Richard Wagner.
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner to Emil Heckel, with a Brief History of the Bayreuth Festivals, trans. William Ashton Ellis (Grant Richards, 1899), No. 79