Heidideldumm! Juchhe!
Ah, what good luck I do have! —
Surely it must delight you to hear I'm so well off, most charmante Mutz? —
The day all but came to an end without my getting a chance of writing to you; you know what it is, to hold concert-rehearsals of this sort! And indeed it isn't easier here than in Paris: there I plunged into all kinds of expenses, to have it good; here I certainly save those expenses, but — whether it will go well, remains to be seen. — However, with the little I have time to write you I won't indulge in lamentations, but simply tell you that I'm still alive, and moreover would much prefer getting back home to Paris tomorrow.
The journey was miserable, the arrival miserable; then trundled about the whole day, calls upon calls paid. To-day I was really glad to see Giacomelli again; it seemed quite home-like. On my leaving the rehearsal, too, young Trabody ran after me (you remember him, perhaps, one of those young Russians who fiddled with me at times in Zurich). The rehearsal didn't much entrance me; the orchestra is miserably placed, and that must be altered or nothing will come of it. Chorus miserable — yesterday and to-day I've had to hold extra chorus-rehearsals. Oh! Oh! what an ass am I!!! —
Well, don't take it amiss that you haven't a more sensible husband; it shall have been my last stupidity. —
I'll write you properly tomorrow, if — God wills! Don't be cross with me for its not happening to-day, but I'm all tumbling to pieces again. And hoarse!!! — Na, greet Fipsel and Jacquot. Amuse yourself, and enjoy the tranquillity! Think a little of your stupid husband, too. Fare nice and well for to-day, and love
Thy faithful partner Richel.
Source: Richard to Minna Wagner: Letters to His First Wife, trans. William Ashton Ellis, Vol. 2 (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909), No. 200