[...] I am saving myself as much as possible, to be able to get through the rehearsals, and my concert itself on the 26th.
At the same time Tristan is being practised diligently. In the second half of January that, too, may possibly be ready for performance. The début affords me no good prospects: I am wretched and weary of life. If I can get over this first concert, things will probably go farther: but I am not fit for much just now.
Don't be cross with me for the briefness of these lines: I am thoroughly exhausted and overworked!
Hearty greetings to the whole house and the green hill!
Your
Richard Wagner.
Source: Richard Wagner's Letters to Wesendonck et al., trans. and indexed by William Ashton Ellis (Grant Richards, 1899), No. 37