The whole world must now be lenient with me; I don't write to anybody—for I am composing and so all else stops. When you study Siegfried, consider how disgraceful it is that I finished it too late for you. Only you could have managed the stuff: I always heard only your voice in my imagination. And now who can take your place?
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 314