Good, dear Wife — I have this moment returned from a conference at which I was informed that the doctor has declared the Tuczek can't sing for 6 days; owing to that and other causes, the first performance of Rienzi would be postponed for a week — i.e. to the 22nd Oct. This didn't make much difference to me, as it would give me another week in Berlin to pursue my aims. Neither need it have any influence on your coming hither, for I most earnestly beg you to get here next Sunday notwithstanding: — let that therefore remain as arranged: — only you will have to tell Klare about it, since she would probably be unable to stay here so long. Tichatscheck also, who intends coming here the 14th, you must inform how things stand, and that he should await another letter from me first, to make quite certain. For I perhaps may still find a means of making it possible on the 15th, after all, — whilst our rehearsals are proceeding without the Tuczek; — but it is uncertain in the highest degree. —
Now I mean to see if this brief note can catch the midday train, — so excuse my haste. —
You dear good Wife, I can't possibly tell you how much I'm looking forward to you! Farewell till then! On Sunday, I hope, I shall see you!
Thy Richard.
Source: Richard to Minna Wagner: Letters to His First Wife, trans. William Ashton Ellis, Vol. 1 (H. Grevel & Co., 1909), No. 25