Sir,
For some time past, Beethoven’s final, glorious symphony has been the object of my most profound study, and the more I have become conscious of the considerable merit of this work, the more I have been saddened to find how misunderstood and how neglected it is by the majority of the musical public. It occurred to me that the way to make this masterpiece more readily accessible would be an effective piano arrangement, but to my great regret I have not yet been able to discover such an arrangement (since Czerny’s version for four hands can never really suffice). In my enthusiasm I have therefore myself attempted to arrange this symphony for two hands, and have so far succeeded in producing a version of the first, and perhaps the most difficult, of the work’s four movements; the result, I venture to add, displays the greatest possible clarity and wealth of detail. Accordingly, I am now writing to your resp. publishing house to enquire whether you might be interested in publishing such an arrangement (since I should, of course, not wish to subject myself any further to such a laborious task without the certainty of your acceptance). As soon as I am assured of the same, I shall set to work without delay, and thus complete what has already been started. For that reason I must humbly entreat a prompt reply: as for myself, you may be assured, Sir, that I shall always show the greatest diligence.
I am, Sir,
your obedient servant,
Richard Wagner.
My address:
Leipzig, Pichhof by the Hallisches Thor, 1st floor.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 1