My dear Liszt,
I expect you have already heard how things turned out for me this time in Paris: the performance of my Overture came to nothing; here, too, your efforts on my behalf have been in vain, you poor man!
Decisive events have recently taken place in my life: the last fetters have fallen away which bound me to a world in which I would very shortly have perished - not intellectually - but physically. Labouring under eternal constraints - imposed upon me by those who were closest to me - I have lost my health, my nerves are shattered. For the present I shall devote myself almost solely to my recovery: my livelihood is provided for; you shall hear from me from time to time. -
My dear friend, I have just been looking through the score of my Lohengrin - normally I never look at what I have written. An immense desire has flared up within me to see this work performed. I urge this plea upon you: perform my Lohengrin! You are the only man to whom I would address this plea: to no one but you do I entrust the first performance of this opera: but to you I commend it in total confidence and peace of mind. Perform it wherever you like: I do not care if it is only in Weimar: I am certain that you will obtain all possible and all necessary means, and that you will be denied nothing. Perform Lohengrin and let it be your work to give it birth. -[...]
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 107