My Dear Friend!
Here I am, wretched again, with another request!
At the end of this month (March), I must see that my poor wife gets the appointed quarterly allowance of two hundred and fifty thalers, this time as well as in the future. But I doubt that it will arrive punctually this time, since first I must wait for a communication from Petersburg where I have already met repeatedly with long delays. In view of this and the fact that my affairs there might easily not be put in order before the end of April, and since my wife on the other hand counts on the punctual arrival of her allowance, I sincerely beg you, if it is at all possible for you, to advance these 250 thalers for me at the proper time — that is, by the 30th of March — and to deliver this to my wife, as though commissioned to do so by me out of friendship. As for prompt repayment — I assume by the end of April at the latest — be entirely above worry: either you will receive the money through my wife, or it will be sent to you directly from Petersburg, and to be sure by the order of the Grand Duchess Helene — to whom I shall report your advance of the quarterly allowance.
Let me now be reassured that I can depend on your friendly assistance!
I have tried with the greatest care to ensure myself the proper leisure for completing the Mastersingers by next winter. Unfortunately, everything has been very difficult for me because my continual indisposition and sad frame of mind have kept company with my other trials so as to make it more difficult for me to have any desire for work.
Yet I still have the wish to settle down again in Dresden for a long time, next winter, if it is possible: my longing for peace has no limit. Old friends and also the relatives I have there make Dresden seem to me the most desirable place for this, in spite of the difficulties with my unfortunate wife. It is almost my only hope!
Forgive the dryness of this message! But where should I begin, dear old friend, if I were to give you all the particulars concerning myself!
Oblige me again to thank you, and may the opportunity soon present itself — so I ever hope — for me still to prove how earnestly I feel this gratitude!
Hearty regards to your dear ones! Most cordially your
Richard Wagner
Source: The Letters of Richard Wagner to Anton Pusinelli, trans. and ed. Elbert Lenrow (Alfred A. Knopf, 1932), No. 30