[...] I am so full of utter contempt for everything connected with the theatre as it stands at present that - being unable to do anything about it - I have no more ardent desire than to sever all links with it, and I regard it as a veritable curse that my entire creative urge is directed towards the field of drama, since all I find in the miserable conditions which characterize our theatres today is the most abject scorn for all that I do. - You may already have heard that I broke definitively with Lüttichau about 3 weeks ago, such that any thought of reconciliation is now completely out of the question, at least from my own side: Gutzkow was the cause of it. The circumstances are really of no importance: it is the age-old struggle between knowledge and conviction on the one hand and the brutal despotism of crass stupidity on the other; there can be no question of any agreement between the two sides, but when the conflict reaches the stage that our most recent conflict has now reached, even coexistence finally becomes impossible, which is why I am now sticking firmly to my resolve to put an end to the whole affair. However, I have consulted the dictates of prudence and realized that, if I have a major success in Berlin to add to my list of achievements, this can only be to my advantage: and so, if I can keep out of Lüttichau’s way long enough to gain this advantage and then go to the King, I should much prefer to do so: if, on the other hand, he refuses to leave me in peace, well then, I shall have to take this step sooner than I should otherwise have done: of course I have no particular desire to sacrifice any part of my salary, - but if I have no choice in the matter, I am prepared to reconcile myself even to that. - (Doesn’t all this make you want to continue working here for years to come?) -
But now for some more agreeable news! Life at Marcolini’s is doing me a world of good: - the continuing improvement in my health has enabled me to complete the remaining two acts of my Lohengrin, so that I have now finished the opera and feel pleased and happy as a result, since I am well satisfied with what I have done. If Rienzi turns out a success in Berlin, as I hope it will, Lohengrin will follow immediately afterwards. The King of Prussia spent a week in Pillnitz (unfortunately Lüttichau did not take advantage of the opportunity!) but the former must have spoken to him, and presumably the whole Court must have discussed me at length; - for the day after a great banquet had been given, Lüttichau came running into town and ordered us to drop everything, so that Rienzi could be staged forthwith: (and all this, of course, after my catastrophe with L.) Last Sunday we gave Tannhäuser again to a packed house: the new ending went well, and even the foreigners, who normally only ever open their mouths on such occasions but never lift a hand, became quite animated.
[...]
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 78