Dearest Friend!
Best thanks for your letter which I found awaiting me here, and which made me feel at home, although it contained no very encouraging news. . . .
My trip, upon which I started eight days ago, has been so far only a chase after singers. I have not been entirely unlucky in this respect, and I also made the very delightful acquaintance of the Braunschweig impresario, which I almost dare to hope will lead to the Duke becoming a patron. Everything here is said to be going well. I have resolved to follow up to the very last point all the resources which Berlin offers me. Unfortunately this all costs a great deal of money, which often seems to be an unnecessary expenditure. . . .
May we recommend our children and our house to the kind care of you and yours, and for this all of you are most heartily greeted by me and my wife.
Always yours gratefully and faithfully,
Richard Wagner.
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. 74