Dearest Friend,
You see — what Brandt writes me! Don't be cross with me, but — you will see that I took note of your request, and made inquiries of my adviser! As to the bandsmen, it surely is a wee bit early. Children, children! I've other lambs to tend first!
For the present the Call has been just what you write about it!
In a little while the Mannheimers also shall get a reminder of Bayreuth and my
Insignificance,
which most heartily commends itself to you and the five Righteous.
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner to Emil Heckel, with a Brief History of the Bayreuth Festivals, trans. William Ashton Ellis (Grant Richards, 1899), No. 27