Ha! I may as well write again to Fischer! thought I to myself yesterday. So listen!
Dear Old Partner!
I have just learnt, as the final result of my inquiries, that according to the agreement between France and Saxony of the year 1856, nothing more is necessary to establish the copyright even of musical works, than that the author or his publisher should deposit for this purpose two copies in Leipzig itself — I believe in the Booksellers' Exchange; they will there be registered under the terms of the treaty, and a certificate to that effect will be sent to Paris; which certificate, once deposited in the proper quarter, the right of publication is guaranteed for France. Perhaps Herr M., the present agent for our publications, knew of this, and therefore did not send the pianoforte arrangements to Paris.
Now, I beg you (it is truly a shame that I should always yoke an old and worried man like you to such a heap of rubbish! but it is because you are my only refuge), so I beg you to tell M., with all speed, that if the pianoforte arrangements have not yet been sent, he need not do so now: but, if this has been done, I will see about sending them back to Dresden. For the present we have only to see at once about two other copies for Leipzig, then to proceed in the manner indicated above. I suppose M. has his agent in Leipzig who attends to these matters: if not, he must have it arranged by Breitkopf und Härtel, to whom I will write to-morrow about taking over this commission.
But the certificate of registration should be sent to me in Paris immediately it is executed, and, mind you, to the address which I already gave in my last letter:
"Monsieur E. Ollivier, Avocat au barreau de Paris, et membre du corps législatif, 29, Rue St. Guillaume, Fbg. St. Germain, à Paris."
This gentleman — Liszt's new son-in-law — is my lawyer, attends to everything for me, and is specially commissioned by me to look after this copyright; while I, on the other hand, assign it to my creditors in such a way that I undertake that all future proceeds of sale or honoraria, which Parisian publishers shall pay for issuing one or other of these three operas, shall be handed over in their entirety, until the demands on me are fully satisfied.
Now, I am only curious as to whether I shall at last hear anything from you, and whether the matter will be set straight.
Yesterday evening I found in my room your last packet, the Rienzi text-book, which I asked for. You cannot think how delighted I am when I see your handwriting, you dear, good old fellow!
Beyond that, there is not much to say about this text. Merely this, that a translator has offered himself to me who is said to be a good hand at his work. For the rest, I have come here simply to prevent a possible murdering of any of my operas at the subordinate theatres without my being asked. I could only be safe from this if the rights of ownership provided by the International Treaty were secured for these operas. On that basis I then gain this much, that I can also prevent performances; and that was what I wanted. Moreover, all here think that overtures will very soon be made me on the part of the management of the Grand Opera; but I must quietly wait for this, for if I offer myself, I tie my own hands. I will only allow Tannhäuser to be performed if it can be given in its entirety, without mutilations. It is possible, nay probable, that that will come off next winter. So stand matters!
I travel back next week. Let me know soon what is being done about Rienzi. Greetings to Heine and Tichatschek, and remain good and kind to me!
Your fussy
Richard W.
Source: Richard Wagner's Letters to His Dresden Friends, Theodor Uhlig, Wilhelm Fischer, and Ferdinand Heine, trans. J. S. Shedlock (Scribner & Welford, 1890), No. 147