Honoured Sir,
My husband again requests me to thank you most sincerely in his name; your organisation of the Verein to him seems admirable, and he begs you will have the kindness to send him two more prospectuses, since he has already despatched the former two as models.
As regards the concert, he assumes that its interest will consist in his conducting it; consequently he deems vocal numbers superfluous. The orchestra which you have specified is what he needs, and the programme will therefore be composed of a Beethoven symphony, the two marches (King and Kaiser), the Lohengrin or Tristan prelude, and the Tannhäuser-overture. A fortnight before the concert my husband will send you more exact particulars. Should not the Patronat-vouchers, to be acquired with the proceeds of the concert, be raffled for the benefit of the orchestra?
How would it be, honoured Sir, if you placed yourself in communication with other cities, so that the Wagner Verein might spread from Mannheim over Germany? I think it would be well if this business had its centre with you. If this is your view also, I only beg you to confirm it, and I would give you the addresses of persons in various towns to whom an appeal might be sent with certainty of good results.
To the most friendly greetings of my husband I add, most honoured Sir, the assurance of my own esteem.
Cosima Wagner
née Liszt.
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner to Emil Heckel, with a Brief History of the Bayreuth Festivals, trans. William Ashton Ellis (Grant Richards, 1899), No. 3