Dear Herr Brandt,
You see the sort of people I have to deal with in Darmstadt! I still haven’t heard a single word from the Kapellmeister there!!! I believe I shall have to manage without the Darmstadt orchestra!! - But there is something else that bothers me! - I was in the theatre again today, and, if I am not to tell the most dreadful lie, I must finally admit that the architect has built my orchestra pit completely wrong. I shall never be able to fit all my musicians into this space, it’s impossible! There is nothing for it but to remove two rows of seats from the auditorium (which is of no importance), then move the dividing wall and rebuild it further back. I shall give Runckwitz provisional notice of this in the morning; but would you be kind enough to get in touch with Herr - Henry VIII (Brückwald, his name has just occurred to me!) in Leipzig? - As far as I recall from what you told me earlier on the subject, moving this wall would present no fundamental difficulties. Given the overall plan, it is a matter of total indifference to me whether 100 spectators fewer are accommodated, or not. What is important is that we should offer a performance that is perfect in every regard - the rest is a matter of indifference.
But your Darmstadt musicians! And no one on whom I can count, except our poor “technician”, to whom I extend my most cordial good wishes, while signing myself
Your devoted servant,
Rich. Wagner.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 428