[...] My King, I read that you are now being sent deputations from many towns in Bavaria, telling you that people are deceiving you by wanting you to believe that your relations with me are giving the country cause for dissatisfaction, a dissatisfaction which they have a quite different reason for feeling. I would ask you to reply to the first explanation by calmly announcing that it was my own wish that I should leave Bavaria, and that my departure had nothing whatsoever to do with state interests. As for the rest, you should listen calmly to what is said, but without committing yourself any further: but - use the opportunity to converse with these gentlemen, question them in detail and at length, and - note well what they say! What I have in mind here really has nothing whatsoever to do with politics. I am of the opinion that there is something unhealthy and sterile about the very nature of our constitution, and that in the long run it will undergo many changes. I am a royalist through and through. Only the King can will change and make it happen: only the German princes can save Germany. But it is for the most part a question here - as I believe - of honest, upright men: and it is these men whom you need.
I told you that only with the proud pain of renunciation in your breast would you become clairvoyant. But I want you to have the right companion on the difficult journey which you must now undertake - a man who will be genuinely instructive. I would ask you therefore to invite our friend to obtain the following two essays for you: 1, “Thirty-three Propositions concerning the German Federation” and 2, “The Restoration of Germany”, both of them by Constantin Frantz. This is the man who approached me recently and revived my hopes for the future. Of all the Germans his is the most sensible and statesmanlike mind yet to have come my way. The second and longer of these two books, more especially, expounds what I, too, had already foreseen as being the only correct and truly German policy; the author wrote to tell me that the harmonies of my music had revealed to him a picture of Germany’s future. If you agree with my opinion of these books, I would advise you most affectionately to summon this distinguished gentleman to Munich without delay in order to have him at your side as your reader or your tutor in constitutional law, or in whatever other capacity would bring him into frequent contact with you. I do not think it a good idea to ask your cabinet to deal with this appointment: we know these loyal subjects of yours only too well! You should rather ask our friend to invite C. Frantz to visit you in private in Munich and have a private audience with him. If you like the man, you can decree his immediate appointment. -
So much for today, my King, my friend! I can write no more. I am racked by rheumatism, contracted through living in my present draughty apartment, and writing causes me a great deal of pain.
But one more consoling glance! -
What shall we gain through this terrible renunciation of ours?
First and foremost: you will become a powerful and glorious King, Germany’s saviour and Bavaria’s idol! -
Though ruling in grave apprehension and silently wishing to hear the sound of my music, you will yet be able to say to yourself: - “There he sits in all calmness of mind, and it is you alone, your generosity and your sacrifice, which he must thank for finally allowing him to proceed with his work, calmly and uninterruptedly!”.
And should you call on me to visit you in some lonely, quiet and unobserved spot, a hint is enough, and I shall come at once, however far away I may be, that - that goes without saying! -
In May 1867 we shall perform the “Mastersingers of Nuremberg” in Nuremberg - then more work - Siegfried, Twilight of the Gods! Then the ravens will cease to encircle the mountain, the glorious emperor will be redeemed! Indeed! Indeed! We shall be victorious - but only in this way! With God, my true and dearly beloved friend!
Eternally yours,
Richard W.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 343