Most valued friend,
My sincere thanks for all your exertions and comforting news! Schlosser (for heaven’s sake) need only tell me what he requires for his stay here; not a soul (and least of all my “committee”, which is certainly in no position to say yea or nay) has demanded that he should not be reimbursed by me! -
I was delighted to hear that you had taken an interest in Frln. Schefzky. I was really on the horns of a dilemma, and couldn’t wait until I had had an opportunity to get to know this or that singer. (I have just been informed - belatedly - of a Frl. Hofmeister in Frankfurt, who is said to sing like an angel!) Certainly, it has not escaped my notice that Frln. Schefzky presents us with somewhat raw material; but with almost all my artists I am forced to reckon on their willingness to learn things they did not know previously. The basis, however, is the most painstaking correctness, especially in matters of rhythm; from Tannhäuser onwards I have demanded that my singers should ignore all idea of “recitative” and learn to sing the notes correctly and in time, right down to the smallest fraction of their metrical value, because only in that way will they arrive at an understanding of how I intend the role to be sung. But you know all this already, which is why I feel sorry for you having to retrain singers who have been taught by the Ullmanns and Hofmanns of this world. A thousand thanks for doing so! If you can get away in June, so much the better! You will always be welcome. I am most heartily obliged to you, and remain
Yours,
Richard Wagner
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 438