Dearest friend,
Please find enclosed a further article which I am sending from Berlin for inclusion in your journal; it is not finished, and has neither a proper beginning nor end, - but we have no choice nowadays but to write aphorisms. Banck will presumably be happy with such an article, - there is something about Rellstab in it; - he needs to be attacked occasionally, - you wouldn’t believe the harm this man causes here in Berlin. My name, however, must not appear, I intend contributing other articles from time to time as Wilhelm Drach. It really is a crying shame that a composer should feel impelled to try his hand at writing, - but we Germans have no alternative, we are all driven back into speculative regions; - it certainly isn’t to our advantage.
A few additional words about myself. I shall be remaining here for a few months, and under the terms of an agreement I have made with Cerf, shall be taking over Glaser’s position here at the Königstadt Opera for a brief period, as soon as the latter goes on leave; during my period of appointment I shall perform my opera here, and if you think it worth announcing the fact, you could perhaps include a short piece to that effect in your paper, if you would be so kind. Assuming you have no objections, I shall shortly be sending you something else. I shall be without employment for a time; if you know of anything suitable which at the same time would enable me to earn some money, both I and my purse would be in your debt. Incidentally, you must not take it amiss that I left Leipzig without saying goodbye to you; I was in a trivial frame of mind and wished to spare you a trivial farewell. Give Banck my very best wishes, and for my own part accept my kindest regards.
Yours,
Richard Wagner.
Berlin. At the Crown Prince.
How can I get hold of the Musik. Zeitschrift? I am missing at least the last 6 issues.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 19