I hope that arch-swine up in the left-hand corner is looking down on these lines and feeling sick to death over them. If his countrymen were not so numerous in Berlin, you, my dear Wagner, would have had an even more colossal success here with the first performance of Lohengrin. But, with the exception of Goldstein and a few young Jews known to me personally, there was a conspiracy among the Semites (who formed a good third of the audience) to be noisy and interrupt and not even to move a hand to applaud the performers. As “our people” are personally almost as cowardly as the Christian Jews whom they have infected, there was, I admit, no opposition. After each of the three acts the main characters were wildly applauded and forced to come forward, and it was the same with the two women after the second scene of the second act. And now that I am on the subject, I may as well give you the pleasing information that these first two scenes of the second act went so extremely well that I myself—they being my particular favourites—listened with almost unmitigated satisfaction.
A few brief criticisms. Chorus was better than usual, although it still leaves much to be desired. The chorus-master Elsler was one of the few concerned in the performance who fulfilled his task with liking and enthusiasm. Movements and grouping of chorus very sensibly arranged by your brother, who, I may say, never once asked my advice and, together with Taubert, overlooked several of the most important scenic arrangements in the stupidest way. Orchestra very mulish and unsatisfactory. Bad and frequent mistakes and false entries, so that the Kapellmeister had his work cut out; at the dress rehearsal, for instance, when my wife was present, Hülsen had often to call the gentlemen of the orchestra to order. Prelude to Act III very good, War March ditto, Bridal March shortened by about twenty-eight bars, a cut being made between the first B flat major chord and the pianissimo with the tremolo on the kettle-drums. The Prelude to Act I was passed over without applause (it was far too quick and restless, the conductor’s fault!); yet this same piece was received at my concert by an audience of five to six hundred with such roars of applause, accompanied by cries of “Da capo,” as I seldom remember. I wish you could have heard that performance of mine; you would have been pleased with it. However, as Taubert had to conduct at the theatre that night, he could not hear my (your) tempo and so we must partially exonerate him.
Now as to the individual performers. Johanna was magnificent in her acting. Singing tolerable in the beginning of the second act, but later horrible. Left out last retort against Elsa (E flat minor). Finale of Act III transposed into E minor and very much worse for the alteration. F sharp minor and major passage in Act II, on the other hand, far better than I expected. Fräulein Wippern, with her sweet bell-like voice, was very effective and better, for instance, than Köhler; but her frequent recalls for popular hits (in the finale of Act I for instance) were very objectionable. Act I was much the worst in every respect; I have heard it much better done in Breslau myself. But nevertheless there was tremendous applause after the curtain fell. Krause was best in the third act, though surprisingly vigorous and fiery in certain places in the beginning of Acts I and II; in short, not at all bad. Fricke not unintelligent as the King, but was slightly indisposed and muttered into his beard a good deal. Last of all, Formes was by far the best; sings with more intelligence than one credited him with, and evidently loves the music. His Lohengrin is beyond comparison better than his Tannhäuser, suits his voice better too. He came to see me several times and sang through the whole part. I gave him a few hints, by which he profited considerably. The scene in the bridal chamber was very impressive, the grail narration quite excellent, the parting very affecting. Formes took great pains with his acting too; studied (in strict privacy) with Roetscher for the occasion, for instance. He deserves some reward from you—I wish you would write a line or two to cheer him up—with a view to the number of performances. A very decent fellow, innocent of any low theatrical tricks, though also, I admit, of any genius. In spite of his exiguum corpus he looked almost handsome and produced a really overwhelming effect in places, as for instance in the second finale when he suddenly turns to Elsa and sings: “wie seh’ ich sie erbeben.” The Herald, Pfister, was appallingly out of tune and had had everything he had to sing punctuated, as it were, for a tenor, so that, in the second act, hardly a note of the original remained. It is absolutely necessary to transfer this role to someone else, even if it were Radwaner or, in the last resort, Rost. You must insist upon it.
Mounting good, though not of an extraordinary splendour; best in the second act; the daybreak was quite exquisitely done. The cuts were crazy, and there will still be a lot of monkeying with it, I can see. Instead of half-past six it was a quarter to seven when the performance began, and each of the intervals between the acts lasted a good half-hour; no wonder the opera only ended at twenty minutes to eleven. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the second performance, next Monday the third. Tempi mostly too quick, but on the whole less perverse than I had feared in view of Taubert’s well-known lack of rhythm and tendency to race.
This must do for today. I will not speak of myself. My wife is beside herself with joy and I am particularly happy that she should be, because, poor dear, she has been so upset by the storm that broke over my head last week and is still raging. But new champions are now taking up the cudgels for me and I have behaved like an energetic and honourable gentleman of whom his Master need not be ashamed. “Far better dead than a coward” and “Santo spirito” are my mottoes.
The Tannhäuser receipts for this month are eleven hundred reichstalers; that is, a percentage of seventy-seven.
Let me hear soon from my adored friend. You had my telegram? Kind regards to Karl.
PS. Should you like me to send you the press notices so that you can study the theory of probabilities?
Source: Letters of Hans von Bülow to Richard Wagner, Cosima Wagner, His Daughter Daniela, Luise von Bülow, Karl Klindworth, Carl Bechstein, ed. Richard Count Du Moulin Eckart, trans. Hannah Waller, ed. Scott Goddard (Alfred A. Knopf, 1931), No. 279