My most excellent friend,
Here is something for you! It is the long-awaited vocal score of the “Rhinegold”. May I ask you to be so kind as to have a word straightaway with our friend Schmidt and give him the manuscript for him to copy? He should not be angry with me for having ignored him for so long: after all, he has already paid me back in advance by keeping me waiting just as long. But tell him he should now drop everything else in order to make a start on the vocal score. At the same time I would ask you to hand over to him the accompanying full score of this same operetta, so that he can copy the stage directions straight into the vocal score, and do so, moreover, at exactly the same points as they appear in the full score: tell him, finally, to make a decent job of it, and to take special care over the spacing. You will see to this for me, will you?
As far as my course of treatment is concerned, it has taken a somewhat unexpected turn, so that I am not yet certain how I am going to tell my dear Dr Rahn about it, which is why I would ask you not to say anything more about it to him for the time being. It must be said that Dr Coindet, to whom Rahn himself had recommended me, was the first to shake his head when he heard of the sulphur baths which I was to take, and he recommended me, without further ado, to Dr Vaillant, the director of a hydropathic establishment in Mornex. In spite of his advice, I dutifully began with the sulphur baths, difficult though they were to take, and as a result found myself feeling so ill and excitable that I was glad to follow Vaillant’s advice to desist from them, and to entrust myself instead to the treatment of this wholly admirable doctor. And so I am now undergoing a course of hydrotherapy, something I would never had believed possible, so prejudiced had I become towards hydropathic doctors, most of whom are down-at-heel medics. But I soon convinced myself that I was dealing here with an exceptionally intelligent and cautious individual, and fortunately I have had no cause to regret my trust in him. I shall tell you more about it on my return, for it is well worth the effort: for today let me say only that I had never had an inkling previously that water could have such a calming effect on one’s nerves and, at the same time, such a restorative effect as my ingenious doctor has managed to produce. He is uncommonly cautious in his method: he observes me almost hourly and, on the basis of what he sees to be my condition at any one time, he prescribes a suitable type of treatment which, generally speaking, has a calming effect upon my entire nervous system, while at the same time stimulating my bowels and haemorrhoidal tumours, though even here nothing is forced but, after each moderately vigorous stimulation, the effect of the treatment is again such as to calm me. As a result, I have now reached the point at the end of the first 4 weeks of treatment where, with the aid of the clear air here and a good diet, I am now aware of openings (if you’ll forgive the expression) which I had completely forgotten about. Here is the source of all the colds I have suffered from and, ultimately, of the awful erysipelas which I now no longer think about, since the action of my skin has already changed so much that I have now completely stopped sweating, for ex., which I used to do - from nervous exhaustion - at the least exertion. Vaillant promises me that at the end of another 4 weeks I shall be completely cured and - I believe him. The only medicine that I have taken internally - with Vaillant’s permission - is Carlsbad salt!! Long live Ignaz!
But no coffee! - coffee with milk, in particular, is a thoroughly unhealthy drink! More on this later.
Of course I must not think of work at present: but I hope to return home in the second half of August, and if there is still any warm gruel left by then, I shall see if it will inspire me to new exploits.
But now, most blessed of heroes, give my very best wishes to your wife Sieglinde: tell her to practise, and to forget the distress which her godless brother Siegmund has caused her! Remember me also to Frau Stokar, whose offer relating to the Allgemeine Zeitung touched me very much: I shall be scrupulous in returning the issues which I have received! If I receive any further copies, I shall do the same with them, too.
Baumgartner is a knave!
Keller is better-behaved - give him my best wishes!
And now - may God the most merciful bless, protect and preserve you!
Yours,
R. W. Fips.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 191