Dearest Richard,
You have entirely forgotten to let me have your address; and although your fame has reached the point of immortality, it is just possible that the London postmen might have heard nothing of Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. Be kind enough therefore to tell me in your next letter the street and the number of the house.
These lines you receive through Klindworth. Enclosed is the letter to the maison Erard, which is represented in London by M. Bruzot. If Erard himself should be there, pay him a visit at once, but I doubt whether he is sufficiently recovered to occupy himself with pianoforte and harp matters. A few months ago my children wrote to me from Paris that Erard was very ill, and, after fruitless trials of baths and medicines, had been taken to a private hospital.
I have not neglected your passport affair, and have induced the Grand Duke and another important person to recommend you specially in Paris. I hope these transactions will not be without result.
The changes you have made in the Faust overture are excellent, and the work has decidedly gained by them. I have sent the score to the Härtels. If you are satisfied with an honorarium of twenty louis d'or, write to me simply, "Yes," and the full score and parts will soon be published. To a larger honorarium the Härtels would not agree, but they will make the edition better and handsomer than would any one else, and I should therefore advise you to answer me in the affirmative.
I shall have to work hard for several months to come. The Cardinal Primate of Hungary has set me the task of composing a grand mass for the inauguration of the cathedral of Gran. The ceremony will take place in August at the latest. The Emperor will be present, and I have undertaken to conduct the mass, etc., for which purpose I have to be in Gran (three hours' distance from Pesth) a month before.
This task gives me much pleasure, and I hope to produce an edifying work.
Farewell, dearest Richard, and write soon to your Franz.
The letter to Bruzot is meant for the firm of Erard; if he should be absent, give it to the representative of that firm.
Your letter to B. has been forwarded.
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #4234, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 2, No. 178