Highly esteemed Friend!
I have only just seen the announcement of the Executive Council, according to which my wish to try the acoustics of the hall next Tuesday by filling it, is to be met by offering the seats for sale.
I cannot possibly allow this, as we are obliged to rehearse very seriously that day (with a quite new singer, Herr Siehr), and while I could well afford to allow my local acquaintances and friends to be present, I could never extend this permission to those who paid for admission, as amongst them would assuredly be found extremely critical and questionable elements.
I beg of you to induce our esteemed friends of the Executive Council to retract this announcement, as otherwise I should find myself compelled to change the rehearsal.
With the deepest respect,
Yours,
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. 90