Dear Mutz:
Yesterday on Ascension Day I arrived in Vienna at noon, favored by wonderful weather. As I entered Austria, a thick fog arose which finally gave way at dawn, near Linz, to the clearest sky. You know the effect of such enlivening impressions on me! The good Esser and Dustmann (the husband of the Dust-wife) met me at the station. In the evening The Magic Flute was given, and the director, a kindhearted, crazy Italian, had invited me to his box. For this morning a piano rehearsal is scheduled, for tomorrow an orchestra rehearsal, and on Sunday the Lohengrin performance. I am treated with great reverence, and the doormen fell over each other to throw open the door for me. My arrival is said to be generally known here, and I am afraid that Sunday won't pass without much emotion. These, briefly, are the events of my life.
In Karlsruhe, which I left on Wednesday afternoon, I again found the old pleasant relations. The grand-ducal couple received me immediately on the day of my arrival and eagerly conversed with me for more than an hour: she also told me she has corresponded with Alwine since our last meeting. I have left orders, in anticipation of my return, for finding a suitable apartment. I intend to rent it at once if anything suitable should be available, since renting must be done there four months ahead. In any case, on my return from Paris I shall have something to count on. I am beginning now to see the immediate future more clearly. Now I am in an incredible tension about my Lohengrin. So much depends on how I like the singers. Last night Dustmann sang very beautifully: an ample soprano, resonant and full of feeling; expressive face, animated; a figure by no means small, but—an enormous bosom! Ander did not sing.
Well, my next letter will tell you more definite news.
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 237