Highly esteemed Herr Burgomaster!
A short time ago the local Tageblatt contained a friendly welcome to the artists who are now arriving to take part in the approaching Festival Play, and I take it for granted that this editorial expression voiced the sentiments of the citizens of Bayreuth. I now feel impelled, in the name of the artists as well as in my own position as citizen of the town which has bestowed upon you the honourable position of its first magistrate, to express to you my gratitude for the unusual solicitude which you especially, Herr Burgomaster, have given to the reception and entertainment of my guests.
It is a task which has required genuine self-sacrifice on your part.
Nor can I make any allusion to this feature of your very effective co-operation without expressing my appreciation of the active and untiring support which you, in conjunction with the entire local administrative body of Bayreuth, have devoted for years to the advancement of this part of our enterprise.
It is only here upon the spot, after close scrutiny of the effective participation of the city authorities, that all those who until now had not been able to understand why a larger and healthier city was not chosen for the execution of my plans were obliged to confirm the wisdom of my choice. In no other place would I have been assured of such a degree of self-sacrificing support on the part of the Civic Council, and it was this which prepossessed me so strongly upon my first acquaintance with the leading local authorities.
Even though I am obliged to reserve for the more fitting moment of our final great success an adequate expression of my gratitude for the unusually effective, yes, unique, sympathy offered by the Administrative Council, composed of yourself and your highly esteemed friends, to the unusually difficult execution of my plans, I hold it, nevertheless, to be my duty to-day to express my appreciation of the work of the civic administration of Bayreuth, as I have been surprised to see the zeal of the same administration exposed to suspicion in announcements made public within the last few days. Our local affairs have such a wide-reaching interest that these announcements could easily lead to incredibly false constructions and misunderstandings.
In the consciousness of having written in this letter quite in accordance with the sentiments of our recently welcomed artistic guests, I greet you also, in the name of my artistic colleagues, esteemed Herr Burgomaster, and remain with unceasing gratitude and the highest respect
Yours very 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. 89