Dear Friend:
You can easily imagine what sad hours your last message has caused your wife and us. When you read these lines, you will already know that nothing could have prevented your heroic wife from hearing the confirmation of your fateful decision from your own mouth. Nobody except your wife and we have learned about your intention which—only remember all your preceding letters—seems to be without psychological motivation, and to have been caused by an unfortunate misunderstanding. For this very reason, and only for the sake of you and your own future, we beseech you: examine yourself again without any prejudice, examine the reasons of your recent decision before establishing them irrevocably. A third person, though influenced by the warmest sympathy, could only cause new trouble by interfering in such circumstances. Therefore we will not venture to influence your final decision by arguing with you, much as we are moved to do so. However, you will certainly consider one request of proven friends: you should take the manly resolution not to oppose the arguments of your wife by an unalterable decision, and therefore to listen to her favorably. Of course we were looking forward to your coming to your new home at Zürich which we have already christened "Villa Rienzi" and which certainly would satisfy all your wishes. There, we hoped, you would again grant us many evenings similar to those which, though spent under less favorable conditions, count among the most beautiful of our lives. However, this hope is not the motive of our request but solely the ardent desire that you yourself may not be at enmity with your own destiny, already laid down in letters of fire, nor obstruct your own well-being. In any case, whatsoever your decision may be, never forget that you have friends in Zürich, the most faithful you could ever find.
W. Baumgartner
J. Sulzer
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 90