Esteemed Sirs:
On account of the attention drawn to it by Herr Kapellmeister L. Spohr, a performance of my opera The Flying Dutchman in Cassel on the 5th inst. had an extraordinary success. Therefore, I am asking you to oblige me by making a full report about it in your widely read Theater-Chronik. In asking for this I need not mention that I shall repay the cost involved—after the notice has appeared.
With highest esteem,
Your most devoted
Richard Wagner
Royal Saxon Kapellmeister
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 50