My Dear Friend!
I could not have expected anything kinder on your part; give me your hand once more, as my dear benefactor, and rest assured that I am deeply touched, even to hearty tears of emotion, by your sacrifice and friendship!
Let this express all my feeling for you, and let us await some happy turn in my fortunes when I can prove my gratitude to you with all the energy that I could wish for!
Now then, let's see quickly what misunderstandings still need to be cleared up.
I am astonished at the news that the sale of my scores is supposed to have brought in 1,400 thalers. What's the meaning of that? When I ceded the publication rights of my operas to yourselves, I reserved for myself the theatre fees for these, but not anything from the sale of the scores that might be disposed of by the publisher. Thus have I kept to it, also.
At that time, still before I had arranged for the publishing of the operas, I had 25 copies made, by lithograph, of Rienzi and The Flying Dutchman, each: these were never given to Meser or to the publishing house, but were kept by me and then by Chorus-master Fischer for eventual sale to the theatres. On the other hand, I had 100 copies of Tannhäuser printed, hoping that at least half of them would be sold through the music-dealer for other than theatrical purposes, and these I delivered to Meser at this time with the stipulation that copies should be sold at 10 to 12 thalers net. Of the other half, which I kept for myself, I presented about 20 copies to friends, etc., at the very start, because there was no demand for them, and the copies seemed to me waste paper without use. When there occurred a demand from theatres, I commissioned Fischer to dispose of the scores left with him for this purpose; from the theatres I received only the usual fees but never the price of the score, because this is not customary, its concession being understood when the right of performance itself is granted. But I recalled that I once had turned 60 copies over to Meser — since he had the necessary space available — and I instructed Fischer to draw on these if he needed to replenish his supply. At present I cannot quite recall how many copies may have been sent to theatres, but Fischer can furnish that information. In any case, this much is certain — that Meser has sold a large quantity of scores, as they were called for — partly for private use, partly for concert performance, and if Kriete is thinking of these sales, then I can assure him that I haven't received the least profit from them, and therefore the proceeds from such sales must be noted down in Meser's accounts. Hence this misunderstanding, and I regret very much that it has led to such bitterness and harshness towards me.
Moreover, regarding my personal position, which seems so enviable to Kriete, I will point out to you only this much, today; namely, that this position has become so pressing to me that I truly would prefer to renounce entirely the pension which Wesendonck gives me out of my fees, and to assign my theatre proceeds to him solely for the purpose of making good my indebtedness to him, since such proceeds are not large enough, after deducting the allowance of 2,000 francs, to yield any surplus worth mentioning for covering the outstanding debts to Wesendonck. Therefore, for several more years I shall very probably have only the Ritter subvention to depend on.
As for Tristan (to which I am looking forward with happy anticipation), my offer stands irrevocably.
Liszt will give Rienzi at Weimar: until now I have opposed it very much, because I considered it premature and feared that the performance of something in this earlier manner would cause confusion about myself. However, consideration for you shall dissuade me from this opposition, and I believe that I may predict to you that Rienzi will shortly meet with approval everywhere. This has already been happening, to a large extent, with the Dutchman.
Now, once more — warm hearty thanks for your unswerving loyalty and friendship! Let me know how you finally succeed with the business, and be assured, for ever, of the deepest friendship of
Your
Rich. Wagner
In further regard to the enthusiastic longing for self-sacrifice on the part of my friends — according to Kriete's way of thinking! — I can only say that the 400 thalers which young Ritter advanced last spring in order to settle with Hiebendahl were loaned by him only on the supposition that this money was to be refunded, subject to your approval, out of the next proceeds from the business, and, in case this does not occur by Easter, it will at once be retained out of my Ritter subvention, a thing which threatens me therefore with no slight difficulty.
Source: The Letters of Richard Wagner to Anton Pusinelli, trans. and ed. Elbert Lenrow (Alfred A. Knopf, 1932), No. 14