"The representation will take place on Sunday," replied Perfall.
"We shall see!"
"We shall see!"
"And he will see," added Richter. "My resolution is taken, but I did not wish to announce it before asking Wagner's advice. Quick. Let us get to business!"
He wrote a dispatch in German, and we wrote the following in French:
"Master, the orchestra, under the direction of Hans Richter, was admirable. The singers deserve the highest praise. The scenery and the stage mechanism are absurd, ridiculous, impossible." And, while someone hurried off with the telegrams, I wrote a long letter to Wagner, giving him a detailed account of the spectacle at which we had just been present and concerning which we were still trembling with indignation.
Betz also wrote to the Master, who would receive the dispatches the same evening and the letters the following morning.
We awaited the replies in the greatest impatience.
The first telegram which arrived the next day was for Richter:
"Will they really offer me such an insult as to give my work to-morrow?"