How can you doubt it, my adored friend? Of course I will go to Karlsruhe as the man at the pianoforte and be at your service there, whether my day’s average is one gulden or three. About when ought I to start, provided Devrient accepts your proposal? I have still two thirds of Act III to arrange, but could of course finish the work at Karlsruhe. Have you received Act I and are you satisfied? Heaven knows, I can do with a word of acknowledgment, for I did my honest best to make a proper job of it.
By a curious coincidence I happen to have paid compliments to Karlsruhe in the last number of Brendel’s paper by praising some passable pianoforte pieces by young Kalliwoda, musical director of the court theatre. He is not a bad pianist, by the way, and is instructor to the Grand Duchess. For a South German he is not too hide-bound.
Let me thank you warmly for your thought of me and your attempt to provide a distraction from my existence here, whether it will result in any practical improvement for me or not. I shall fill my post as accompanist with the utmost modesty and diplomacy, you may rest assured, and Edi Devrient need fear nothing. I should have thought, by the way, that the theatre personnel might feel itself honoured by having a “royal” court pianist from Berlin prescribed for it!
There, I have answered. I now beg you most urgently to keep your promise and tell me how you are keeping in Paris. How did you get hold of your flat? My wife asks me, which means you, whether you will not go and see old Madame Liszt at 19 rue de Penthièvre some time? Do you ever see the Hérolds? Has Gasperini looked you up? By the way, if you want to dine very decently and cheaply, try the Diner Club in rue Laffitte and Lepeletier, near the Opéra. Four francs a head à la carte, including good wine; a magnificent place, extremely clean and with excellent service. Let me also press you to hear the Pardon de Ploërmel. Meyerbeer, the composer, appears to have written it expressly in your honour; for there is no longer any talk of a discussion as to the title: “miserable music-maker.” Should you like to meet Szarvady, the Hungarian journalist, husband of Wilhelmine Clauss, the pianist? Or Gounod, who is a very decent fellow and a serious musician? Can, in fact, any of my Paris acquaintances be of any use to you in any way? There are certainly many among them who would be only too willing.
Excuse this hasty writing. Your letter put me in a state of great excitement. I had begun to despair of the Karlsruhe performance and of your going there. The thought of it sends me crazy with joy. To hear this masterpiece conducted by you yourself! I feel like borrowing a brace of pistols and putting a bullet through my head after the last note. I am assuming that you want it all kept quiet and we are therefore preserving complete silence.
What a pity that my stepmother should be away from Paris just at this time! At Leipzig you made such a powerful impression on her—although she is not naturally receptive—that you might have felt inclined to call on her, particularly as you are living quite near her house in the avenue de l’Impératrice. You would like her daughter, Countess Charnacé, however, and my wife is writing to her today to let her know you are in Paris. We cannot bring ourselves to ask you to take the letter in person. Let her take the initiative. I am sure you will not be angry with us about it, for she is an uncommonly charming and clever woman, speaks German too, and is much easier to get on with than her mother. She heard Tannhäuser in Berlin, and her husband heard it in Dresden. Both of them rave about you.
Nothing particular to report from Berlin except that Hülsen has had an excellent find in the way of a tenor. Woworski is the treasure’s name. He is learning Tannhäuser and is to appear in it next month. Formes is ill, I am sorry to say, and has been given two months’ leave for a cold-water cure. Therefore no royalties up to date. On the other hand, Woworski will probably bring about a whole string of Tannhäuser performances, as the public always flock to the theatre when he sings. I have not yet seen him, as he has only appeared in Robert and Lucrezia so far, but, from all I hear of his musical capacity, he should be far better qualified for Tristan than Formes, who for his part will retain Lohengrin as one of the best roles in his repertoire.
If I only knew how to make any useful propaganda for Rienzi! I am convinced that there is still a rich royalty harvest in store for this opera in Berlin. (In Breslau it is more popular than Tannhäuser.) I suppose you did not give it up for good that time in Berlin?
Forgive this long gossip and let me hear from you soon.
PS. Your letter only reached me last night.
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. 284