Brief and to the point!
Here the “questions to be settled”, which Doepler handed to me in Berlin: be so good as simply to note, beside each number, what you will undertake, and what, on the other hand, Doepler is to undertake. Your dear Herr Bruder was of the greatest importance to me in Berlin: to him alone did I entrust the execution of the scene, and, so far as this was in any way (!!) possible—considering the wretched decorative painting—he has accomplished the matter to my great satisfaction. Convey to him my thanks in my name!
Soon it begins!—Upon you alone do I rely—but no melancholy! Weary and in need of rest
Yours,
Richard Wagner.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins [© Jo Cousins | WAGNER Salon]