In 1877 Wagner received a letter from an Australian correspondent, telling him of a Melbourne performance of Lohengrin. This was his reply. Period photograph of Melbourne from the State Library of New South Wales.
Most honored sir!
Your news has pleased me very much, and I cannot refrain from thanking you for it.
May you see to it that my works are performed among you in English; only then can they be understood intimately by an English-speaking public. We are hoping that this will happen in London.
We (my family and I) were uncommonly interested in the enclosed views of Melbourne; as you were so kind as to offer to let us have more, I assure you that you would thereby delight me greatly.
Please extend my compliments to Herr Lyster [the promoter] and even in your distant part of the world may you maintain a friendly feeling toward
your much obliged
Richard Wagner
Bayreuth, 22 October 1877
My translation; the original text is in Jennifer Marshall, "Richard Wagner's Letter to Australia," Miscellanea Musicologica 14 (July 1985).
