[...] But what has made - and continues to make - particularly strenuous demands on my time is the position forced upon me by the unexpected death of poor Rastrelli. All eyes immediately turned to me as his successor in office: the affair was discussed at court, and Lüttichau had enquiries made about me. It is a most difficult decision for me to have to take: I should of course like to continue to remain free for the next few years. I am now at the prime of my life, when my creative abilities are at their highest pitch of intensity: I already have plans for two new operas and could complete them within a space of two years if I were my own master. I confess that I should gladly pay for this freedom at the cost of a few financial worries, and, in the final analysis, I may after all now reckon on a decent income from the two operas which are already finished. Of course, here in Germany everything moves slowly and cautiously: as far as the totality of our theatres are concerned, I have arrived on the scene completely unexpectedly, and before they find time to include me in their repertoires, I can afford for a while to remain an observer. It is true that, thanks to Schmetzer, I have already signed a provisional contract to provide Brunswick with a copy of the score; and yesterday I received a letter from the director of the theatre in Aachen, asking me for the score: but meanwhile, even though I may snap up the odd thaler here and there, my old debts, especially the ones incurred in Magdeburg, continue to be a millstone round my neck, and I cannot foresee a time when I might be free of financial worries. And so a few days ago - not least because I was reproached for not speaking out - I discussed the matter freely with Lüttichau, and explained to him that, although I should really have preferred to remain my own master, the prospect of having at my command such an extraordinary ensemble as the Dresden Opera now has to offer me, and of preparing superlative performances with it, was something so tempting that I could easily renounce my earlier resolve: but since a subordinate position of the kind held by Rastrelli would not offer me the prospect I desired, I could not consider the vacant post. Lüttichau thereupon explained to me that it was not his intention to refill the post that Rastrelli had held; but that, since he no longer had the necessary confidence in Reissiger, on account of the latter’s indolence and helplessness, he planned to appoint a second Kapellmeister alongside Reissiger, who would, at the very least, enjoy exactly the same rights as Reissiger. - I now find myself standing like Hercules at the parting of the ways: - anyone who simply had my material well-being at heart would of course cry out: “Seize your chance while you can!” But would that really be the end of the matter? -
[...]
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 52