Dear Fräulein Bertha,
Tell me exactly how much money I would have to send you if you were to supply me with a house-coat based upon the enclosed sketch. It would be pink in colour, and be based upon one of the enclosed patterns, which I have numbered 1 and 2, so that you can work out the price of them both, since I assume they will be different. No 2 is somewhat stiff and cut away at the back - presumably an Austrian fabric - but I like the colour. And so - an exact estimate.
As for the blue, I have chosen the sample which I am returning herewith and which I hope is not too expensive. I need 12 yards. In the event of your not being able to get by on the money intended for the new items, I am enclosing herewith a further 25 thalers and shall be grateful if you will credit this sum to my account. In any case I would ask you to include with the blue satin 10 florins’ worth of very narrow blonde lace for shirt, trimmings (you know the one, about an inch in width).
Frau v. Bülow looks forward to receiving your invoice for the portfolio which she will settle at once.
And so - how much would it cost to make the house-coat described herewith?
Best wishes.
Your devoted servant
R.W.
Pockets with puffed ruche and bows of same material.
Pink satin. Quilted with eiderdown and sewn in squares, like the grey and red cover which I have of yours; exactly the same thickness, light, not heavy; and of course the outer and inner material must be quilted together. Lined with a light-weight white satin. Width of coat at lower hem six lengths, i.e. very wide. Also, sewn on extra, not stitched to the quilting! - a puffed ruche of the same fabric, all the way round; from the waist down the ruche should issue in a puffed inset (or trimming) wider towards the bottom and closing off the front.
Examine the drawing closely: this trimming or flounce must be particularly opulent and beautifully worked, and must extend on both sides by a foot in width and then, as it rises to the waist, lose itself in the usual width of the puffed ruche that encloses the waist. At the side of the flounce three or four beautiful bows of the same material. The sleeves, like the ones you recently made for me in Geneva, with puffed trimmings - opulent; a bow at the front and a broader one, opulent, on the inside at the bottom of the part that hangs down. Also a wide sash ten feet long, the full width of the material at either end but somewhat narrower in the middle. The shoulders narrower, so that the sleeves do not pull down: you know. And so six lengths wide at the bottom (quilted) and, at the front, a flounce one foot in width on either side. In other words six lengths and two feet wide at the bottom.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 357