Dear Kietz,
I travelled back and forth by way of Cologne, to call for my wife at the spa, and therefore I didn't pass Epernay.
I have been unspeakably busy; I have to neglect my most important duties. I can't write and have no spare time for anything. And this has been so for a long time.
Write me how much money you'll need to get here for the first performance of Tannhäuser (in three or four weeks). If I can manage it, it will be done.
Goodbye— My wife greets you as well as I,
Your
R. W.
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 229