Richard WAGNER. L.A.S., Tribschen January 31, 1869, to Édoua - Lot 49

Richard WAGNER. L.A.S., Tribschen January 31, 1869, to Édouard Schuré; 2 pages in-8 (small split at fold); in German. About the conductor Pasdeloup who is to stage Rienzi. [The Alsatian Édouard Schuré (1841-1929) was a pioneer of Wagnerism in France. This is Wagner's 2nd letter to him. Jules Pasdeloup, director of the Théâtre Lyrique since August 1868, was to stage Rienzi, which premiered on April 6, 1869]. Wagner thanked Schuré for his letters and kind words. As far as Pasdeloup's activity is concerned, he has such a low opinion of it that he would simply prefer to leave it at that. To succeed in an undertaking of this kind would require an extraordinary deployment and tension of all energies. To put it bluntly, to achieve such a result would require intellectual and moral resources quite different from those heaven-sent to Sieur P. All that now remains to be done is to prevent a catastrophe. Was das Pasdeloup'sche Unternemmen betrifft, so hege ich eine so geringeMeinung davon, dass ich nichts mehr wünschte als, es käme gar nicht zu Stande. So etwas könnte nur durch eine ausserordentliche Anspannung u. Erregung aller Kräfte gelingen: aufrichtig gesagt weiss ich aber, dass es zu solch einer Wirkung anderer intellectueller und moralischer Kräfte bedarf, als sie dem guten P. vom Himmel beschieden sind. - Alles gilt es demnach nur, etwas Uebles nicht geschehen zu lassen." In a postscript, he asks Schuré to find a good tobacconist and send him 1 kilogram of Regie snuff: "Regie-Schnupftabac". He also points out a tea and cookie store in the Passage Choiseul, to the right of the Rue neuve des Petits Champs, where he once found some gigantic, top-quality rusks: "wo ich einst vortreffliche Riesengrosse Zwiebacke entnahm"? and asks him to send a box. He hopes not to take too much advantage of his friend's complaisance. Sämtliche Briefe, vol. 21, no. 28, p. 55.