Dear Minna,
I have just received your letter, and hasten to reply to it at once.
I'm heartily sorry to have left such an exertion to your solitary neck, and you may judge how greatly I deplore it, when I assure you I now perceive that I have come to Paris a whole month too soon, can be of no use whatever to myself for the present, and simply am leading a far more expensive life here than I might have done with you at home. How right I was, when I wished to await a letter from Belloni first; it was your own impatience that drove me forth: remember that last Saturday. But there, don't let us tax each other with it now: 'twould lead to naught, — moreover, much of the blame is certainly due to Liszt, whose letter virtually hurried me off to Paris, though he must have known that Belloni would be still with him at Weimar, not a syllable of which did he mention to me. — Then I have had to write to Meser at Dresden for the parts of the Tannhäuser overture, and before they arrive — as I learn — nothing whatever can be begun. — Now for the matter oppressing you: My hopes of a really comfortable summer at Zurich have by all means ranked among my fondest hitherto. You know what radical objections we had to remaining in our present abode: nevertheless, not to cause you any extra disturbance now, and to spare you as you feel you need, I will come round to your wish to retain the same lodgings for another half year. I advise you, however, to have a look at the empty suite in the front Escherhäuser first: these suites seem to be self-included, and in any case we should have the advantage of not living on the ground-floor, which, as we have learnt from experience, is a great nuisance. Don't be too timid about the price, dear wife, though you are entirely right not to think of consenting to any exorbitance. The main consideration for us, and particularly for a stay-at-home man full of work, like myself, at any rate consists in one's having to live day after day in one's dwelling, which one therefore finds a daily nuisance if it isn't to one's liking. I have recently been much gladdened and reassured by a letter from Bordeaux: our friend (for she is yours no less) frankly counsels me to stay perfectly true to myself in my art and all else, to undertake nothing that sets me at variance with myself, and to act in all respects solely according to my inner promptings, as she and her friends consider it their bounden duty to relieve me of all anxiety about my outward circumstances. I fancy I shall soon be able to tell you something more precise on this head. At the same time I shall not remain completely without earnings of my own: so — don't alarm yourself too much about the rent; an agreeable dwelling is the vital point for our residence at Zurich — for my brain-work also in particular. However, if you do not share my hopes, and at the same time abandon all hope of still finding a really pleasant and convenient dwelling, — why — rest assured, I gladly yield to our remaining in our old abode, especially if I know that at once anxiety and trouble are thereby taken from yourself. To see you as free from care as possible, and above all in good spirits and health, — this, dear Minna, is what carries chief weight in the end with me. —
Karl Ritter will probably come to us this summer; it would have been well if we had had a room for him. I can tell you nothing more from here at present, excepting that only to-day have I been able to begin my work again. I've a capital cold in the head now, which I hope will carry off the slackness of my nerves. The turn my ancient winter-trouble has taken this time has really given me food for thought: let us spend next summer as quietly and strengtheningly as we can. I should have liked to be quite in the country.
I expect Belloni back within the next few days, when you shall hear more from here. —
I'm also writing Sulzer a few lines. Remember me to N., and remain as fond as possible of
Thy Richard.
Of Paris riots — as you know — one hears in Paris least of all.
Source: Richard to Minna Wagner: Letters to His First Wife, trans. William Ashton Ellis, Vol. 1 (H. Grevel & Co., 1909), No. 31