Most valued friend and colleague,
Things are now beginning to get fairly serious! My initial concern is Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, which I am intending to perform in exemplary fashion in the opera house in Bayreuth on the 22nd of May - to celebrate laying the foundation stone of the provisional festival theatre. You will already have heard about this. But I am turning to you now because I want you to take on the famous baritone solo (together with the solo bass part as a whole) at this ceremony. Many years ago in Dresden I taught Mitterwurzer to sing this exceedingly important “solo” in such a way that he created the most tremendous effect with it. Do not be offended when you see it: it is very clumsily done, but - what a marvellous character! The main thing is that you yourself are there. Please say yes! Only in this way shall we achieve anything worth while.
You need give up only 5 days of your time, i.e. the 19th of May for the journey to Bayreuth, the 20th, 21st and 22nd for your stay here, and the 23rd for the return journey. You must be able to do so, and I am sure you will want to. Is that not so?
As for the tenor solo, I have again been thinking of Niemann; I believe he ought to be able to make a success of it, since, essentially, it does not lie very high. But God knows the kind of nettle I may be grasping here, or what I may be bringing down on my head by making a serious approach to a man with whom I have had such unhappy experiences in the past. Perhaps you could let me have some information on this point? I am also - naturally - still thinking of him for Siegmund in the Valkyrie. But my thoughts always end in a sigh!
Do you know Jäger? in Dresden? I shall have to take a closer look at the whole of Germany’s vocal splendours this summer, which is why I shall be moving permanently to the centre of Germany from May onwards. Whatever shall I find there??? Sighs! -
Please send a favourable reply, and remain ever loyal and well-disposed towards
Your sincerely devoted
Richard Wagner
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 405