My dear Count Enzenberg,
What a beautiful letter! It warmed my heart and gave me such pleasure! Please accept my heartiest thanks for the noble opinion which you have of me. I have long been convinced that my artistic ideal stands or falls with Germany. Only the Germany that we love and desire can help us achieve that ideal.
I, too, envisage a German hymn which, simple and solemn, may inspire us all with the will to act: it is not days of contemplative brooding but a single moment of inspiration, need and transcendent rapture that will provide me with what is right. Days of extreme danger are at hand: may our princes see them as such; far better than all their diplomats, the bard will be able to address their appeal to the people.
You may be certain that I shall bear your noble request in mind! Let us hope and strive!
With the most sincere good wishes of the most heartfelt esteem, I remain
Your Honour’s most devoted servant
Richard Wagner
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 351