My dear old Friend!
At last I have another chance to write you a few lines about myself. Perhaps it's already too late, and Salvi is already in Dresden. I had promised him to write to you before that. He wanted to come to Dresden this week (that would mean about this time), and I was supposed to ask you perhaps to sing Lohengrin for him. I was also supposed to ask you to be kind enough to fix your fee for a six-month engagement (next winter) in advance. Unfortunately, I had no time to do so in the confusion of my trip. Heaven grant that I haven't spoiled anything! For you're my only hope for next winter in Vienna. If this engagement doesn't materialize, I don't see any prospect ahead at all. So—do your best and help me get this important relief!
That's really all I have to report to you today. My head is whirling; I am sick, without any comfort, until recently always in doubt as to what to do next. Now I want to start a new work; that should distract and console me.
In the summer I'll see you in any case: we'll make a definite appointment. In the meantime Cornelius is sending you from Vienna the cuts in the third act.
Thank your good wife cordially for the kind favor, and accept the warmest regards from me, you remarkable and unshakable singer and friend!
Farewell!
Your old
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 246