1. The Allgemeine Musik-Gesellschaft in Zürich engages a complete orchestra with the members of which it concludes preliminary contracts for 8 months from October 1st of the present year until the end of May 1854.
2. The Society loans this orchestra to the director of the Zürich Theater for unrestricted use in the theater's performances both of operas and plays for a remuneration (for at least 5 months) to the Society, the amount to be stipulated by common agreement, according to the price which the director has previously paid for the orchestra engaged by himself.
3. Since he will thus have a stronger and better orchestra for the same price which his smaller orchestra has cost him, resulting in better opera performances, he should accept restrictions in the use of the orchestra necessarily resulting from its more frequent use for the concerts of the Music Society. The common use of this orchestra, therefore, should be stipulated as follows:
4. The Music Society in the course of the winter season is to give 12 concerts (instead of 6 as before) and on those 12 evenings the director shall not have the use of the orchestra; moreover, he must leave open 3 evenings for the rehearsals for each concert and call the theater rehearsals in the morning only, and not in the afternoons. In order to avoid any disturbance in the daily routine of the theater, the concert management pledges to produce its concerts in the beginning of the winter season; two of them will usually fall into one of the winter months; besides, the days of the concerts as well as of the 3 rehearsal evenings must be announced in advance. There are to be other restrictions, however: the Music Society undertakes to engage only musicians who are not bound by other obligations than the theater and the concerts.
5. Because of the aforesaid increase in the number of concerts, the Music Society expects to raise the necessary funds for the practical purpose of supporting the orchestra on a quantitatively and qualitatively higher scale than before. But since the bare receipts from those concerts will be insufficient for our needs, the Music Society, moreover, applies by visit or written appeal to the music lovers of Zürich in order to assure the enterprise by voluntary financial help.
6. To the subscriptions from Zürich's music lovers are added the additional receipts from 12 concerts (so far as this may be used for the orchestra itself), and the receipts from the use of the orchestra by the theater director. The total must equal the amount required for the payment of an orchestra for 8 months and for its traveling expenses, etc. But in any event, if the enterprise is to continue, this sum must suffice to procure an orchestra of 32 men at least; namely, 8 violinists, 2 violists, 2 cellists, 2 double bass players, 2 each of flutists, clarinetists, oboists, bassoonists, 4 French horns, 2 trumpeters, 3 trombonists, and one timpanist. This is the minimum strength of the orchestra which can be offered to the director as an improvement compared to the former status. In return for that accepted improvement he could allow the Music Society the use of an orchestra twice as large as before, without any loss to himself, since the better quality of the orchestra would in its turn increase the value of his opera performances and therefore increase the interest of the public in them. To raise the level of the concert performances, however, an orchestra of the aforesaid 32 men would not be sufficient: the strength necessary for a concert orchestra would demand an increase of the strings by 14 men; namely, 8 violinists, 3 violists, 2 cellists, and one double bass player, so as to have 16 violins, 5 violas, 4 cellos and 3 double basses. Since neither the receipts nor the additional income would suffice for its maintenance, and since in any case such a strong string quartet would be superfluous for the usual theater performances, and likewise the space for its accommodation might be lacking, the body of the string quartet in the regularly engaged orchestra would have to be reduced to 12 violins, 4 violas, 3 cellos, and 2 double basses even in the favorable case of sufficient means! (The whole orchestra therefore would consist of 39-40 men.) In order to allow for the necessary strength in the strings, and the special brass or percussion instruments sometimes required for the fullest orchestral performance, a reserve body would have to be formed in the following way:
7. Since the Music Society cannot demand from the director further restrictions of the orchestra's use, considering the restrictions imposed upon him by the repetition of concerts, it follows automatically that no musicians are to be employed who undertake obligations beyond those of the theater and concerts, as in the case of the Harmonie-Gesellschaft of the Bär brothers here. The body of musicians should be engaged exclusively for the new Zürich orchestra, and could get rid of other obligations, such as playing at balls on certain evenings. It is to be expected that, in view of the uncertain future of the projected orchestra plan, the members will not give up entirely their present affiliations and profitable positions. Thus they should be asked to put themselves at the disposal of the Music Society reserve group, engaged for the bulk of the concerts and only obliged not to accept any other engagements for the evenings of the concerts and rehearsals, the dates of which would be given them at the beginning of the season; they would also be used, however, for the theater for important special assistance in so-called extra music behind the stage (which is often needed) with separate payment from the director.
8. As for the administration of the orchestra, this can be temporarily stated as follows: If the enterprise is really appreciated and the music lovers of Zürich, after paying the subsidies, still declare themselves ready, at the expiration of the provisional eight months' contract, further to support the enterprise so that the orchestra can be offered a fixed position throughout the year, the Music Society should come to a close agreement with the theater committee, to the effect that the theater will only be left to a director who can also offer further guarantees for the support of the orchestra, since he will now have to provide the house rental only. The appointment of the musical director must be made by agreement between the director of the theater and the concert committee, so that the latter may be careful lest an incapable theater conductor impair the spirit and the accomplishment of the orchestra. For next winter the personality of Director Löwe could certainly be considered dependable for this purpose. For its services to the theater the orchestra is subject to the theater rules, and the director must inform the orchestra's board of the concert committee of incidental fines before pay day, in order to see to their deduction in the interest of the theater director. More details about the administration should be reserved for further conferences; the discussion about the part which the orchestra might gradually assume toward public musical education in Zürich by developing a school for playing musical instruments may especially be kept for a later time.
9. If the new propositions meet with approval, the most necessary start toward their realization would be a thorough understanding with Director Löwe, and the above-mentioned invitation for subscriptions to the music lovers of Zürich. As regards engagements already made by musicians, an understanding should quickly be reached with Herr Löwe; engagements made by them could be at once taken over by the Music Society as soon as they were found to be good and suitable for the purpose. The undersigned declares himself ready to arrange further engagements to the best of his ability and to find good musicians elsewhere.
R. W.
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 128