Herewith I send you a bill for one hundred thalers, and cordially wish you good luck and a good mood, fine weather externally and internally, for your Alpine trip. Let all be well with you, my glorious friend, and proceed bravely with the completion of your tetralogy. When do you think it will be ready? Is there a possibility of thinking of its performance in the months of August and September, 1854? Do not allow other undertakings or claims to detract or detain you from this great enterprise, the task of your life.
For the dedication of Lohengrin I thank you most cordially; I am delighted with it.
The Flying Dutchman will most certainly be performed here next February. Send me the designs soon, so that all may be prepared in good time. Zigesar will probably resume the management before long, at which I am very glad.
Beaulieu has taken leave officially, and is gone to Kreuznach.
The Liebesmahl der Apostel was satisfactorily given by the Pauliner choir of Leipzig, under the direction of its conductor, Langer. I was truly delighted with it, and mean to repeat the splendid work as soon as there is a good opportunity. Although external success and a certain (very uncertain) pleasing quality are a secondary consideration with me in the case of works which are decidedly above the public, it was agreeable all the same to see that success and that pleasing quality as fully confirmed as one could have desired.
The chorus was not very numerous (about a hundred and twenty), but well balanced, and the whole sounded beautifully. Milde and his wife sang the duet from the Flying Dutchman, which was much applauded, and the Tannhäuser overture went splendidly, and was repeated by desire at the close of the Musical Festival on the second day. The orchestra and the public were unanimous in their enthusiasm, as indeed must be the case wherever the performance is adequate.
Long accounts of the Musical Festival you will find in Brendel's Neue Zeitschrift (Brendel himself was at Ballenstedt), the Signale, Rheinische Musikzeitung, and Berlin Echo.
Perhaps you can spare a few minutes before starting on your journey to write a few friendly lines to Langer about the performance of the Liebesmahl at Ballenstedt. He has behaved as excellently as might have been expected, and the chorus of students is splendid. Without it the performance would have been impossible, because the other singers were only just sufficient to strengthen the chorus. Send your letter to Brendel, who will give it to Langer, and let me have without delay the designs for the Flying Dutchman.
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #3835, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 1, No. 80