Most Honoured Sir,
In the hope that the few lines have reached you which I enclosed about a month ago in a letter to Herr Heine, I take the liberty of addressing you again, and this time, indeed, with a more circumstantial request to grant me your kind interest, as well as your powerful assistance. A large portion of my future lies in your hands and in those of Capellmeister Reissiger: they are the best hands, as far as power is concerned, and the only point is to be sure of your good-will: it is my study to woo its very core; but, as in this wooing I cannot possibly rely on merit, I hope to succeed simply by begging you right heartily for indulgence. My request can, therefore, be most briefly expressed — it is: indulgence and patience.
Most honoured sir, I place my whole trust in the high character for truth and uprightness accorded you by all; not because I can venture to count on any recognition of my merit, but because true kindness and bonhomie can but be considered inseparable from a character such as yours. If you, therefore, can rest assured that I, for my part, will place implicit trust in you, that with all confidence I look forward to the fulfilment by you of a great part of my best hopes, then I think I may be certain of your kind indulgence and interest. Assuming this, allow me now, once again, to return to the object of my hopes, in greater detail than was last time the case. In a letter from Councillor Winkler I am assured that Herr von Lüttichau has also given his consent to my opera being put in rehearsal immediately after the production of Reissiger's new work.
To my very great joy, I see then in this resolution the earnest determination to carry out the promise given to me, and nothing remains for me but to commend myself and my wishes with regard to the forthcoming performance to those on whom depends its fate. At first I intended to put on paper my wishes and ideas respecting the cast and the settling of some debatable particulars in my opera, so as to place them before you and Herr Capellmeister Reissiger. But I soon found that I should cause you quite unnecessary trouble in asking you to read through this little Promemoria: since, firstly, through the disadvantage of not being on the spot, I should have been compelled to express my views in a very problematical and uncertain manner; and, finally, I should only have discussed at length certain things which your insight would be in the position to arrange for the best at the very first glance.
I cannot deny that the difficulties, scenic and musical, connected with the production of my opera are great; and to my regret I see, most honoured sir, that I am loading you, as stage-manager and chorus-master, with a heavy piece of work. It is, however, my consolation to know with what promptitude and activity you are accustomed to solve problems of perhaps greater difficulty. It therefore only comes to this — whether you enter upon the task with pleasure or the reverse. My opera may well be not altogether calculated to give you pleasure; and that, most esteemed sir, is, therefore, the point where I must exclusively rely on your indulgence. Perhaps, however, the consideration that you have on your hands the work of a composer who is also a countryman of yours may inspire you with some sort of affection for the matter; perhaps, too, with your practised eye, you may see here and there many a part which might gain in effect by being duly brought to light, and the pleasure aroused by such an endeavour may gradually waken pleasure in my work itself.
I spoke just now of difficulties. One of the greatest of these I consider to be the skilful division of the male chorus into the separate parties of Nobles and Plebeians. As I do not know the present strength of the Dresden choir, I can make no suggestions in the matter. The task is to make the Nobles — who in the first part of the opening of the First Act are themselves divided into two groups — sufficiently strong, without thereby robbing the People's chorus of its due strength. In this, as in many other similar points, I much prefer to trust entirely to your judgment, and am convinced that that is the best thing I could do.
The choruses which are sung behind the stage — viz., the chorus in the Lateran (First Act), and the small chorus Væ tibi maledicto (Fourth Act) — will probably have to be sung by the Kreuzschule choir: at least, in planning these scenes I counted specially on this means for carrying them out, as the first chorus must have an imposing body of voices, which would be quite impossible were the theatre-choir divided.
The great tragic pantomime in the finale of the Second Act presents another difficulty. According to my views, the principal personages of the same — Lucretia, Brutus, Tarquinius, and Collatinus — can only be represented by members of the comedy staff who are accustomed to sustain similar parts in spoken drama. The carrying out of this, my wish, will no doubt encounter difficulties and obstacles; therefore, most honoured sir, I lay this matter to your heart, and earnestly implore you to use all your influence so that my request, at any rate in its essentials, may be fulfilled.
From among many other things which might appear to me worthy of further mention, I will refer only to the chorus of the "Messengers of Peace," at the beginning of the Second Act. As this is by no means an easy chorus to sing with pure intonation, naturally only the most musical and the best-voiced members of the female choir ought to be selected. The good repute of the Dresden choir leads me to suppose that their number will not be found too small. Nevertheless, it is scarcely to be expected that an unaccompanied chorus can be sung to the end without falling somewhat in pitch! It would, therefore, be advisable to take measures to support the tone-pitch now and then from the slips; and this, in my opinion, could best be done if a skilled accompanist undertook to support the voices from time to time on a chamber-organ placed some little distance back.
Good heavens! I perceive that if I continue in this manner I shall finally rummage out the whole of my foolish stock of wisdom in bespeaking my whims. But I should necessarily weary you, and of all things in the world I would avoid this, as I have too great need of your good-humour. If you are disposed to make me supremely happy, you will do me the great kindness to honour me with a few lines very soon; be assured that I shall know how to value such a mark of distinction most thankfully.
In any event, I commend myself to your kind good-will, and once more to your indulgence, as your most obedient servant,
Richard Wagner.
No. 3, Avenue de Meudon, à Meudon près Paris.
P.S. If your affairs will allow of your writing to me before the 25th of this month, your esteemed letter will reach me addressed as above. After that date, however, I would beg you to send it to the following address: No. 14, Rue Jacob, à Paris.
Source: Richard Wagner's Letters to His Dresden Friends, Theodor Uhlig, Wilhelm Fischer, and Ferdinand Heine, trans. J. S. Shedlock (Scribner & Welford, 1890), No. 94