Best of Friends!
I am answering at once to thank you very much for your attention. Now, unfortunately for the first time, I have been able to learn definitely, through examining the agreement between France and Saxony, what procedure is necessary for safeguarding the copyrights in question. For this, the publisher or agent must deposit two copies of the piano arrangements of my operas in Leipzig, have a certificate for them made out, and simply forward this to the proper place in Paris, for deposit. I would ask you to have this certificate sent to the attorney whom I have already retained, M. Émile Ollivier, Avocat au barreau de Paris et membre du corps législatif, 29, Rue St. Guillaume, Fbg. St. Germain.
In this way my Dresden creditors will lose none of the advantages I have ceded to them, and I would ask them merely to count on my word of honour. Also it is quite all right with me if you wish to arrange matters differently for yourselves; only I ask you to bear in mind that any disposition of my literary work, or any future settlement of a contract of sale with a Paris publisher, can be executed only by me; therefore it will be well, then, to leave this entirely to me, since otherwise there might be some risk of difficulties. — My reason for deciding immediately to offer to reserve for you, without rebate, the future fees from Paris publishers, until my debts to you were fully satisfied, was due, first, to my sincere and hearty desire to be able to repay as soon as possible the sacrifices you have made for me, and, second, to my hope of again bringing the business under my immediate control, so that I could retrieve, earnestly and independently, the opportunities which hitherto were neglected of making the business profitable.
I am sorry to have incurred the reproach of thoughtlessness in connexion with my journey to Paris, when no account has been taken of my character, which now has grown somewhat serious; nevertheless, I suppose that this was of some relief to you, dear friend, when you were obliged to decide to leave me helpless in my embarrassing situation. But I still tell you that the safeguarding of the copyrights of my operas was especially urgent because I believed that these would be seriously compromised by the performance of various selections from Tannhäuser in poor concerts, something which, according to reports, was being planned, and by the news that the Théâtre Lyrique was considering taking on Tannhäuser! However, I could and can prevent such projects only by establishing my copyrights, and this depends first of all on that certificate indicating the deposition of the piano editions. Thus our interests in this were mutual, and I beg you to excuse me for having left you both in the dark in the matter. If you had already taken care of the proper thing, then I should, for instance, have been able — according to French law — to prevent the performance of the Overture to Tannhäuser which was given, last Friday, in a commonplace locale and by a poor orchestra. That I could not do so and had to submit to this outrage which was a poor recommendation for me, I now owe to your doubts and hesitation. — Nevertheless, I truly hope to receive offers soon, which I must not seek myself, and perhaps it will be possible that Tannhäuser and Rienzi at the same time will be given here next winter. Then I may also hope to satisfy you and Kriete — presumably at once.
As for Tristan, I believe that I have actually relieved you of a burden; since I must insist on the engraving of the full score, even Härtel's offers so little — in view of the enormous cost — that I myself am in doubt what to do with it.
On the other hand, I beg you, my dear, much-tried friend, to continue your goodwill and to believe in my honest desire to be able to repay your sacrifice.
With hearty regards
Your
Rich. Wagner
The piano arrangements, which were to arrive in Paris, will be returned to you both in case you should not wish to dispose of them in Paris.
I shall be back in Zurich very soon. — M. Ollivier, Liszt's son-in-law and my friend, has accepted the special commission, during my absence, of safeguarding my rights against unauthorized performances; but he can do this only on the strength of the certificate requested.
Source: The Letters of Richard Wagner to Anton Pusinelli, trans. and ed. Elbert Lenrow (Alfred A. Knopf, 1932), No. 18