you suppose I cannot judge of this from a distance? Hear if I
can.

No theatre in the world has so far thought it advisable to
perform my opera "Tannhauser" four years after its production; it
was left to you to settle down for a time from your world-wide
travels at a small court theatre, and at once to set to work so
that your much-tried friend might at last get on a little. You
did not talk or fuss; you yourself undertook the unaccustomed
task of teaching my work to the people. Be sure that no one knows
as well as I what it means to bring such a work to light in
existing circumstances. Who the deuce does not conduct operatic
rehearsals nowadays? You were intent not only upon giving the
opera, but upon making it understood and received with applause.
That meant to throw yourself into the work body and soul, to
sacrifice body and soul, to press and exert every fibre of the
body, every faculty of the soul, towards the one aim of not only
producing your friend's work, but of producing it splendidly and
to his advantage. You had to be sure that it would succeed, for
only with a view to success had you begun the work; and therein
lies the force of your character and of your ability--you have
succeeded. If I have judged your beautiful action rightly, if I
have understood you, I hope you will understand me too when, in
words as brief and precise as was your action, I say to you,

I THANK you, dear friend!

You, however, wished not only to benefit my work, but to benefit
me as well; you know that my position is that of a somewhat
hemmed-in, forsaken, solitary man. You desired to make friends