Highly respected Sir!
I cannot deny myself the pleasure of telling you that yesterday, Sunday, the 12th of August, your Tannhäuser was performed with the most splendid success.
Even the overture was enthusiastically acclaimed and the applause increased from act to act. I can also testify that our artists endeavored to solve their hard task with warm love and enthusiasm, and that Frau Quinz as Elisabeth and Herr Kindermann as Eschenbach were especially successful. Intendant Dingelstedt will report to you more fully about the performance and its success, but meanwhile permit me to express to you my warmest sympathy with your splendid success and to assure you that it will give me the greatest pleasure soon again to undertake one of your works.
With distinguished respect,
Yours most faithfully,
Franz Lachner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 158