Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to Dr [Theodor Kafka], Lucerne, 7 December 1871
In German. Four pages, 215 x 148mm, bifolium. Provenance: Sotheby's, 18 May 1995, lot 309.

To a Viennese friend, on his plans for the Bayreuth opera house and the completion of Götterdämmerung. Wagner explains why he has had to postpone a planned visit to Vienna in the autumn, though expressing pleasure at the foundation of the Vienna Wagner Society, and at the prospect of a concert at which some of his latest music might be performed. He gives news of his work on the construction of his opera house at Bayreuth: 'It is now high time for me to go [to Bayreuth] to receive the building site offered to me by the city authorities there for the theatre, and to meet with the architect on site in order to hand over the construction of the theatre to him'; and reports that he has 'carefully prepared the first 3 months of the coming year for the completion of the composition of the last act of the Götterdämmerung'. The letter concludes with his surprise at a rumour that he is to give a concert in Vienna in February, and warm wishes to his friends in the city.

In accordance with his schedule, Wagner was to begin the preliminary draft of Act III of Götterdämmerung on 4 January 1872, and the orchestral draft shortly after, completing them on 9 April and 22 July respectively: work on the full score was to last from 3 May 1873 until 21 November 1874, when at last his great cycle was completed, after more than a quarter of a century. The Wagners moved from Lucerne to Bayreuth in April 1872, although their new mansion there, Wahnfried, was not completed until April of the following year.