[...] I must add a word about my operatic affairs. There is nothing I can do about the Dutchman at present, firstly because the Court Theatre in Berlin is currently in such a disorganized state that, with the best will in the world, Küstner could not begin to rehearse a new piece, & secondly because when Meyerbeer went to Paris, he sent me word that he wanted to rehearse my opera himself, so that it would be the first work to be staged in Berlin under his new direction; he says this will be immediately following his return from Paris - in November. As a result, I can do no more in this matter except wait, particularly since it would be uncivil of me to insist upon the Dutchman being given before Meyerbeer’s return. At all events I doubt whether the Paris production will harm me; it would in fact be the first opera of this kind to come to Germany; in any case things are unlikely to move so quickly, it would take at least a year before the work was given in Germany, & with any luck my own opera may already have been staged in several theatres by then. That is why I am presently devoting all my energies to Rienzi! & by God it needs it! If I were not here, watching over my interests with the utmost vigilance, God only knows when my opera would see the light of day. And yet I enjoy the great advantage of knowing that the entire company, including the singers, conductor & producer, have set to work with such excellent goodwill that I am generally assured such amiable single-mindedness has never before been met with in the theatre! But these endless muddles which are caused every day by the most extraordinary narrow-mindedness & stupidity of the intendant place constant obstacles in my path, so that clearing them away is like cleansing the Augean stables. It would be a waste of time to enumerate them all; suffice it to say that we have now had 14 piano rehearsals, & that the first performance will take place in 4 weeks from now, some time during the first half of October: unless I am totally mistaken, it will be an excellent performance: of Devrient I need say only that I am assured she has never studied a role with such enthusiasm, since she almost always finds it uncommonly difficult to familiarize herself with anything new straightaway: at the very end of the opera she intends to come galloping on to the stage on horseback, riding cross-saddle! - Tichatschek has given up the holiday in Salzburg on my account: vocally he is made for the part, & regards the role as the most brilliant one he has ever sung. He is having himself a suit of armour made specially for the part - German silver, richly decorated with real solid silver; it is said to be costing him around 400 thalers. [...]
Be an artist, an artist, not a fool with 100,000 friends. If you really live for your art, you will be happy even in the midst of the most utter penury, especially if, at the same time, you are conscious of having a friend who is steadfast unto death. God! What would have become of me if I had not thrown myself into the arms of art with ever greater loyalty! Before I landed in this slough of suffering, I could as easily have become a charlatan as an artist! But in those hours when art became my sole consolation, my eyes were fully opened to all its pureness & chastity. - I now know who I am, for all the contempt & catcalls I receive! Be with me, friend! -
[...] The only thing I have achieved for myself this summer is the detailed stage draft of the “Venusberg”. I consider it a complete success & am convinced that this opera will be my most original creation. As soon as I have a free moment to versify the draft - (& I intend to make every effort to do it as well as I can - ) I shall send you a copy. I began working out the details of the draft in the course of a short journey which I made on foot from Teplitz to Aussig & beyond in the mountains; I spent the night on the Schreckenstein ( - I don’t know if you’ve heard of it) & started work on it there. Children, it is a charming place! Anders, Lehrs & the rest of you, pray for Rienzi, & next year we’ll all celebrate together on the Schreckenstein! -
In the parish church at Aussig I asked to be shown the Madonna of Carlo Dolci: it is a quite extraordinarily affecting picture, & if Tannhäuser had seen it, I could readily understand how it was that he turned away from Venus to Mary without necessarily having been inspired by any great sense of piety. - At all events, I am now firmly set on Saint Elisabeth. — [...]
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 47