To the Worshipful Members of the Orchestra.
It may be assumed at the outset that I am simply meeting the wishes of the worshipful members of the orchestra if I take this opportunity to suggest that a series of orchestral concerts be organized in the course of the coming winter, & that the said series be regarded as a separate undertaking on the part of the orchestra & arranged for its benefit. I have already sought & obtained the necessary agreement & consent from Herr von Holtey, which he was kind enough to give me, & my suggestion, briefly, runs as follows:
The number of concerts, at least during the first year when the undertaking may perhaps not yet have met with the success it deserves, should be limited to six, which would follow each other at an interval of approximately 3 weeks. With regard to the day, Herr von Holtey has kindly drawn my attention to Tuesday, when there are often theatre performances in Mitau, thus leaving the evening free for the orchestra here. A subscription scheme should now be started for these 6 concerts, to which the orchestra should invite members of the public to subscribe by means of several subscription lists. As a subscription price for the 6 performances I would suggest 4 roubles, &, as the admission price on the evening itself, the usual charge of 1 rouble. Once the subscription list has been closed, a committee of the 4 senior members of the orchestra shall be entrusted with running the box office & be responsible for deducting the total costs, about which I shall have something to say in a moment, from the monies received & for dividing the balance equally among the various members of the orchestra. In order to avoid any unpleasantness over the distribution of the proceeds, such as may arise from the differences between the first & second desks, I would suggest that the said distribution take place, as indicated, on an equal basis, & that in doing so no distinction be drawn between the first & second desks, but that those players who sit at the first desks, or rather - to avoid any risk of misunderstanding - those players who may be eligible to perform a solo item or a concerto - may be given the opportunity to offer their services as a soloist & be entitled to an additional fee for any concert item performed, payable out of the concert fund. The term “concert item” shall be taken to include duets, trios, quartets and so on, so that all those who are eligible to play such a piece shall have every opportunity to do so at least once in the course of the 6 concerts. Each concert should therefore include on average 2 solo works, & for each of these pieces a certain sum of money should be set aside in advance according to the amount received through the subscription scheme. Since, however, it will be unavoidably necessary to perform vocal numbers, if we are to provide a varied concert repertory, we shall also have to set aside a fee for the singers each time they are invited to appear, if we are not to be subjected to the whims of these people; this should probably be the same as that payable for an instrumental solo, & we must reckon on 2 vocal numbers at each concert. The fees payable each time for 4 solo items (i.e. 2 instrumental & 2 vocal numbers) should be included in the concert expenses right from the outset; if these appear to be very significant, especially when we add the hire of the hall, printing of programmes & posters etc. - (the cheapest options to be agreed on in advance) - , we may nevertheless count on substantial cash receipts on the night, a sum which at the end of the season should be used solely for the purposes of being distributed equally among all the members of the orchestra.
Since the undertaking may appear, in this form, to be somewhat innovatory & for that reason perhaps not immediately find favour with the general public, every member of the orchestra should regard it as his duty to contribute whatever he can to increasing the number of subscription signatures, and it would give me personally the greatest satisfaction if I were to succeed in collecting a fair number of signatures by means of individual invitations. - An audience which, at least as far as the great mass is concerned, is no doubt not yet used to the sort of more serious musical pleasures that we intend offering them during the coming season, must be induced by more superficial attractions, & I am thinking in this context of the Leipzig subscription concerts, of which 24 are given every winter to a packed house. Accordingly, not only must all true lovers of art be offered the prospect of edifying musical delights, but the remaining members of the audience must be given an opportunity to see each other & converse, something they may easily do during the long interval between the first and second parts of the concert. This means, amongst other things, that a Swiss baker should be asked to take charge of the buffet arrangements, so that refreshments may be available for the audience during the interval; in a word, everything must be done to ensure that the greater part of the audience may regard these concerts as an evening of agreeable entertainment, since we all know perfectly well that not every section of the audience has come to worship at the shrine of art.
If, in spite of everything, the pecuniary advantages are relatively few this winter, we may nevertheless hope that, providing we seek to make the concerts as attractive as possible, the success of the undertaking will increase from one year to the next & in time achieve the same sort of distinction as that which characterizes similar concerts in so many other towns in Germany. But even apart from all this, the scheme ought to appeal to every artist among us by virtue of the suggestion that, in this way, we are giving so perfectly organized a body as our orchestra may justifiably be described at present an opportunity to show its strengths in this area & to develop along independent lines; for what true musician would not be dismayed to think of so excellent an ensemble being put to no better use than merely carrying out routine duties, rather than achieving something that was genuinely enjoyable & edifying. It is this consideration alone which, by & large, has induced me to put this suggestion to you, since I may state in advance that for my own part I renounce all claims to any financial gain which the said undertaking may produce, & decline to accept any fee.
This well-meant proposal of mine still leaves a good many points to be raised & discussed, but I offer it to all the members of the orchestra for their consideration and, in the event of its being accepted, for their signature; I hope that it may, when duly signed, serve as the basis for the establishment of a Music Society which in time will certainly not escape general recognition.
Riga, the 11th September 1838
Richard Wagner,
Theatre Kapellmeister.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 24