At the theatre the Rheingold was still announced. Richter showed Wagner's dispatch to Perfall, but he paid no attention to it, and persisted in his determination to give the work upon the date for which it was billed.
I received a letter from Tribschen in which Wagner said that he thanked me for the vivid description I had sent him of this disaster, that he had telegraphed to the King asking him to suspend the representations, that he had telegraphed to Betz begging him to refuse to sing under such conditions.
On Sunday morning Richter went for a last time to see the Director, and said to him:
"The representation of the Rheingold will not take place this evening, because I will not conduct the work against the wish of its author."
"You will not conduct it this evening, nor any other evening," cried Perfall—"as you are no longer Capellmeister to the Royal Theatre."
And pale with rage, he signed the dismissal of Hans Richter.
But at least they could not play the Rheingold that evening. Better that the sea should swallow one man than the whole ship.
A strip was pasted across the bills, postponing the performance to the following Thursday. The management sought for a new leader of orchestra, there was a mad rush about Munich, where many Capellmeisters had come to hear the Rheingold.
All those whom they solicited, stole away, leaving the city precipitately; not one of them cared to incur the disapproval of the composer by conducting the work against his will.
On Monday another letter brought the news that Wagner had written at length to the King, explaining to him in all its details, the affair of the Rheingold and begging him to postpone again the performance announced for Thursday to the following Sunday. If it were in accordance with the King's wishes, Wagner would himself go to Munich to re-instal Richter at the desk and to reorganize the scenes as much as possible.