Dear Minna!
It is pleasing and consoling to me to know that you are now in the magnificent mountain air of Reichenhall, in a new environment, and—as is now the case here—that you are having good weather. Heaven grant that you may find recovery and peace! Think of nothing but yourself and what is pleasing to you. Stop nursing the old wounds! You'll ruin yourself, and I—certainly—cannot bear it any longer! Let our correspondence rather be silent for a while, as long as it cannot be kept completely free of those dreadful relapses. I, at least, can and will no longer answer these.
It was surely quite natural for me to turn to your doctor for exact information after you last wrote me of a most serious illness. It was likewise quite obvious to him—who is also our friend—that I did not hide my great concern for our common future from him on this occasion: for it is no longer a question here of who is right or wrong, but what can be of the greatest advantage for our future mutual benefit. In his sympathetic zeal Pusinelli went further than I wanted him to: I wanted to hear his opinion, his advice; even though I also advised him to talk this matter over with my sister Luise, who has given me evidence of the greatest good will toward you, this was done merely to hear the opinion of others. Now I have seen that Pusinelli feels just as other people who have also had occasion to observe us: he, too, considers our mutual position far more serious and more in need of a change than it seems to you—even after the most incredible outpourings. Be this as it may, rest assured that I did not ask Pusinelli to intervene, but that he did so purely according to his own judgment.
Now he informs me himself that you interpreted his request to come to Dresden for a consultation as an effort to persuade you to get a divorce. I am sorry that such a painful thought occurred to you, a thought which I never entertained. About this I fervently ask you to calm yourself!
But I must remind you that, even though you think you must accuse me of having been the sole cause of your sufferings, you still have a duty toward me: to give me some peace or to leave me alone! It cannot go on like this! Since I see that everything I explain to you exactly and in detail gets no consideration from you at all, I cannot and shall not make any more attempts of a similar kind, and I therefore ask you urgently henceforth rather to keep quiet altogether or to limit your remarks solely to that which will always deeply concern me, your health and your present life. I entreat you to abide by this, to stop making these eternal scolding phrases: for no matter how detestable and guilty I may seem to you, it is ultimately my duty to protect myself from needless tortures.
So I appeal once more to time itself: let peace reign! Old age can aggravate old sores, but it can also eventually remove them—this is what I long for, and I still don't despair!
I have every reason to abide by my latest plans for settling down. I hope to see you in Dresden late in the fall. May God grant the necessary peace of mind until then!
And so farewell! Take care of yourself! Enjoy the quiet and the refreshing beauty of your stay and accept the warmest greetings from
Your
Richard
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 253