[...] Your symphonic poems are now much more familiar to me: they are the only music that occupies me at present, since I myself am not allowed to think of work during the course of my treatment here. Every day I read through one or other of the scores, just as I would read through a poem, fluently and uninhibitedly. On each occasion I feel as though I were diving down into some crystal flood, in order to be quite alone there, to leave behind the whole of this world, and to live my own life for an hour. Refreshed and fortified I then swim back to the surface and long for your presence. - Yes, my friend, you can do it! You can! Well, there is really not much that can be said here; even the noblest expressions could well appear somewhat trivial. Enough - you will soon be here, and you will be bringing my Dante with you. What a splendid, glorious prospect! - How can I ever thank you!! -
Yesterday I sent you a parcel: it was the original scores of the Rhinegold and the Valkyrie, which will now suffer whatever fate has in store for them. Let me be brief. -
I am slowly dying, and shall become incapable of going on with my work unless I find the kind of home I need, in other words, a small house all to myself, with a garden, far away from all noise, and especially from the noise of all these damned pianos which - even here - I am condemned to put up with wherever I turn, and which get on my nerves so much that the mere thought of them prevents me from working. For four years now I have sought in vain to fulfil this wish, and only by buying some land and building a house for myself can I hope to find what I long for. Like a man distracted, I have been brooding on ways of making this possible, and it finally struck me quite recently that I could offer my Nibelungs to Härtels and obtain the necessary money from them. They have now informed me of their willingness to take this exceptional step in order to acquire the rights to my works, so that I have now formally made my request, whereby they will buy from me now the two dramas already completed, and expect to receive “Siegfried” in the course of next year and “Siegfried’s Death” at the end of 1858, paying me an honorarium on each occasion; and they will then publish the whole thing in 1859 - the year of performance. It is sheer despair which has driven me to take this step, for in this way I hope that Härtels will provide me with the means of acquiring the plot of land that I have in mind. If we agree - and I shall soon know their decision - I shall first have to deliver my two scores to them so that they are in possession of the same ready for publication at some future date: but for now they are simply to make a copy of them as quickly as possible, and then return the originals to me straightaway. At all events - if I wanted the money immediately - I was obliged to offer them an act of seisin: for the duration of your visit here they must of course loan me the scores if they have not already been copied - that goes without saying. But since you yourself do not yet even know the last act of the Valkyrie, I am sending you the full score first, so that you - and no one else - shall be the first to learn of its contents. If you have time, read through the act as quickly as you can; but keep the whole lot ready to send to Härtels as soon as I ask you to do so. -
We must come to some better arrangement concerning this whole affair when we next speak. -
I must say that, during my course of treatment here, I have grown utterly indifferent to my work: God knows, if other people do not encourage me in my work, I shall abandon it. Poor devil that I am, why should I sweat and toil beneath the weight of such terrible burdens, if my contemporaries cannot even provide me with a place to work? I have said as much to Härtels: if they cannot help me acquire a quiet, freehold house such as I need, I shall give up writing such rubbish. - I am beginning more and more to regret my letter to the King of Saxony. The scandalous behaviour of the Saxon Government towards Semper leads me to expect only the very worst from them, namely scorn and derision: they are knaves of the most shameless sort! Do you not agree? -
Well, if you come, I shall be glad to forget Saxony and the whole of Germany for quite some time. Bring the Frau Kapellmeister with you, do you hear! And Marie must come, too. If you put me in a really good mood, I may well inflict my “Victors” upon you; the great difficulty here is that I have been toying with the idea for this piece for some time now, whereas the means by which to realize it has only just dawned on me like a flash of lightning, so that for me it is extremely clear and definite, but it is not yet ready to be imparted to other people. You first need to digest my Tristan, especially its third act, with the black and white flags. Only then will the “Victors” become clearer.
But why am I going on in this way! -
Come to Zurich! and bring me the Divine Comedy - then we shall see whether we can agree on the divine tragedy.
Ever yours,
R. W.
[...]
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 192