Dear Richard!
Thanks for your dear letter, thanks also for the friendly memory which you have preserved of our reunion in Dresden at the improvised banquet at the Terrasse. To me also that evening was and is a ray of sunshine in the grey mist which covers our public circumstances. Perhaps it is age, too, which clouds my eyes and begets the feeling of chilliness. Then so much the better! On that evening I could feel myself young once again, could warm myself. That is indeed an advantage. You are right: in other respects, the banquet was of no use to your, our affair, did not help it any; but after all, it was beautiful, nevertheless, and not every fragrant and promising blossom really bears fruit. For that reason should one fail to enjoy its perfume and beauty?
We have entirely got away from the project of giving a Liedertafel concert. I, like you, perceive that nothing worth mentioning will be obtained by this; indeed, we could fall even more deeply into debt instead of recovering from it.
Perhaps an artist-concert that we have in view will help us out of our deficit; if not, then there are still people who, for a noble and fine cause, are glad to make a sacrifice which will not appear to them as such.
I have sent your circular to the patrons. Their declaration has but just now reached me, that they are not coming to Bayreuth themselves but wish to be represented by the society. In the committee meeting which for that reason was held the day before yesterday, Herr Prof. Dr. Stern was chosen as delegate to represent our society and our patrons on the 31st. It seemed important to choose a man who at all events could be present there, considering the importance of the affairs to be discussed and the resolutions to be made. I depend entirely too much on chance occurrences that are not to be counted on, such as that I would be able to undertake binding duties. Should I be free, nevertheless, then I would come along anyway, in order to be able to be with you and your family, or to be able to see what has already been created and to be present at the meeting.
Yesterday I reported the above to the committee in charge in Bayreuth, and also announced a further payment from here amounting to upwards of 200 thalers. Our contributions will then amount to 1,700 thalers. It is to be hoped that soon the springs will again be flowing more richly.
Kietz had invited me to see your bust during my summer trip. When I returned and came to him, he had already set out in order to model your wife. Therefore I have not yet seen your bust. I hope, however, to see it when your wife's bust will be finished. — It pleases me very much to think of it. You shall hear my opinion.
A few days ago, I heard your Mastersingers again. The more often I hear it, the more I learn to understand it and the more to comprehend its endless beauty, its richness, its wonder. What appeared complicated formerly, now for the first time becomes clear to me, now for the first time I find the thread which leads me securely through this sublime creation. The whole production, in its entirety and in its separate parts, bears in itself the stamp of genius so much that it seems to me none other than the outpouring of a divine inspiration, of a revelation.
Dear Richard, greet your faithful, admirable wife and your children for my wife, myself, and my children. To you too we all send hearty greetings. May your great work prosper! May it bring you pleasure and reward.
Most cordially and faithfully,
Your
Pusinelli
Source: The Letters of Richard Wagner to Anton Pusinelli, trans. and ed. Elbert Lenrow (Alfred A. Knopf, 1932), No. 96