ALS in German, three pages on two adjoining sheets, 4 x 5.25, December 12, 1857. Important letter to his "honored friend" Johann Hoffmann regarding the performances and royalties for his operas 'Tannhäuser' and 'Lohengrin.' Wagner informs Hoffmann that from now on Tobias Haslinger is to take care of the settling and consignment of the royalties owed by Hoffmann, and asks Hoffmann to send outstanding and future royalties to Haslinger. In part (translated): "It will not be unpleasant for you to inform me that I have entered into business relations with Mr. Haslinger, a music dealer of the Court, and that the latter has offered to take charge of the reception and accounting for royalty fees that I must receive from you. Accordingly, I beg you to pay to Mr. Haslinger, or to his order, the fees of 100 francs per performance, after the twentieth, which are due to me upon receipt of these lines, and continue thus every first day of the following months until at the fiftieth performance of the Tannhäuser. Mr. Haslinger was also informed that I granted you the rights of Lohengrin subject to an immediate advance of 1000 francs on the tenor of the first 10 performances of this opera; if you have accepted my conditions and if you have obtained the score using my instructions, then you would also have to send to Mr. Haslinger the 1000 Fr and to ask him for a receipt in my name. My apologies for not having written to a conductor vote: I will do it for sure and I do not even want to wait for you to talk to me again." In fine condition, with a couple of tiny edge splits along the intersecting folds.
Johann Hoffmann, a famous operatic singer and impresario, had been director of the theatres in Riga, Prague and Frankfurt am Main, when in 1855 he bought the 'Theater in der Josefstadt' in Vienna and built the 'Thalia-Theater,' where the first Austrian performance of 'Tannhäuser' took place on August 28, 1857. A desirable letter by the great composer concerning two of his most iconic works.
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