Oh! my Friend!
It is really audacious of you to pretend to live in Bayreuth! One should come here in order to be sure that he has come to the only place where you are not!
Well, I am not much better myself, either at present or in the future. Therefore—no reproaches!
And herewith—to business!
. . . Herr Nettke claims that the rich banker, Emile Erlanger in Paris, has declared his intention of giving ten thousand thalers for Bayreuth! . . . Erlanger, who has clearly shown himself very devoted to me, is said to be frightfully rich now. We should bestir ourselves seriously in securing the co-operation of this man.
And when are you coming back? You will not find me particularly recovered; it was a terrible strain on me this time. However—what must be—let it come! Farewell, and remain true to your faithfully devoted compagnon,
Richard Wagner.
On my way back from Austria, about the end of March, I intend to stop in Munich for a few days—to the consternation of this and that person?!
Source: The Story of Bayreuth as Told in the Bayreuth Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Caroline V. Kerr (Small, Maynard and Company, 1912), No. 41