Wagner's Letters

Richard Wagner to Mathilde Wesendonck

Undated · Zurich

Overview

A note on their shared Spanish reading: Wagner already owns Soden's translation of Lope de Vega and suggests other volumes, Richard's Lope translations and Cervantes' tales. He thanks Mathilde for Iphigenie and sends her a souvenir of Strasbourg, the playbill of a performance opening with his Tannhäuser overture, mercifully no pâté de foie gras.

Letter

I already have Soden too, — unbound, and soon at disposal. I knew the whole catalogue before, through Schulthess. Perhaps the volume with Kaiser Otto at Florence would also be worth reading.

Beyond these, Richard's translations seem to me not uninteresting, as far as the matter goes.

We might also think of Cervantes' tales — I possessed them once myself.

For the rest, I can still help out awhile with my own provision; I'm — reading little.

Best thanks for Iphigenie.

Herewith a present from Strassburg; no pâté de foie gras, though, our God be praised!

Shall we see each other this afternoon, perhaps?

Source: Richard Wagner to Mathilde Wesendonck, trans. William Ashton Ellis (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905), No. 41