My dear Dr Schanzenbach,
Once again I must thank you for your undaunted detour to Lucerne, which gave me the honour and pleasure of making your valuable personal acquaintance. I must also take this opportunity to thank you for your kind letter of some days ago, although the news that it contained was, in essence, far from pleasing.
You tell me in confidence of the awkward atmosphere that surrounds Prince H. as a result of intrigues in the King’s entourage and the latter’s mistrust of his Prime Minister, a mistrust which is encouraged rather than diminished by such intrigues. I find this very distressing, since I should most certainly regard it as an incalculable misfortune if the prince were to lose the patience necessary to perform his task and if the King were to be deprived of his support in consequence. I cherish this sentiment purely out of love for my exalted friend and out of concern for his welfare.
But how can I make it clear to you that what guides me here is no other interest than the motive that I have just outlined? I can see from your recent letter, well-meaning though it was, that I have failed to convince you on this point, in spite of the highly explicit assurances that I gave you when we spoke together on the subject. It seems to me important that I should once again explain myself and my attitude to these questions in the most explicit terms.
I am unaware of any personal interest in the furtherance of which I should need to call upon anyone in the world to intercede on my behalf with the King or with the state of Bavaria. My strongest personal wish is to be able to live here where I am, in absolute tranquillity, unmolested and forgotten about, for as long a period as is possible, living only for my work: the King’s true love for me fulfils this wish of mine as a matter of course.
The artistic plans which I have instigated go beyond all personal interest on my part and can be realized only at the cost of unprecedented personal exertions and sacrifices: they are entirely at the mercy of the King’s fiery will and such is his enthusiasm that he is more eager to take them in hand than I myself would wish for the sake of my present peace of mind; all the plans that I had previously sketched out have been ratified and assigned to the Civil List to be put into practice. There is not the least need for any intervention on the part of the Ministry of Education or Herr von Gresser. The only thing that prevents them from being put into practice at present is Bülow’s delay in accepting the King’s highly flattering proposals, since he is ill and out of sorts, and, if possible, has an even greater aversion to returning to Munich than I myself.
Moreover, nothing until now has stood in the way of my own return (which I would certainly not regard as a permanent arrangement) except for the dilemma in which the formerly indispensable Minister von der Pfordten placed the King by declaring that he would resign his portfolio the moment I returned. It would be in Prince H.’s power to exert similar pressure on the King if he were to issue a similar declaration to that given by Herr von der Pfordten. If the Prince is not interested in exerting this kind of pressure on the King, I would consider it important and necessary - and this, my dear Sir, I now make so bold as to emphasize - that he should speak his mind, openly and explicitly, and - as I have already indicated - reassure the King by his doing so.
Of course, I have no clear indication that the King imputes the same kind of quirkishness to the Prince as Herr von der Pfordten was inspired to show when he was a member of the royal cabinet: indeed, he was delighted to be able to inform me that H. is well-disposed towards me. As for the Prince’s wish to keep me out of Munich for some time yet, it has already struck me that the King, according to his own testimony, had not heard the Prince express this wish directly, but that the latter’s views had merely been passed on and reported to him. I also know that it appears to be in the particular interests of the King’s entourage to pander to his remarkable reluctance to discuss delicate questions directly with the highest relevant officials, with the result that they present themselves as mediators and messengers.
These mediators and reporters - my dearest friend - are the devils that currently blight the whole of Bavaria’s political life. If the Prince encounters mistrust on the part of the King, he may be certain that this mistrust has been fomented not least by the fact that among the tales conveyed and reported to the King by these worthy gentlemen is the claim that Prince Hohenlohe is suspicious of me, as he is in general, etc.
I say this to you: if you are interested, as a good Bavarian, in seeing Prince H. remain at the helm of government, you should try to persuade him to speak openly and reassuringly about me not with the Minister of Education but with H.R.H. himself. It is not vanity which makes me emphasize my own importance, but only the truth, and my concern for the welfare of my exalted friend, whom I love and for whom I predict great misfortune were he to be decisively prejudiced against the Prince for quite insignificant reasons (among which I should be happy to number my own affairs).
And there is something else I must ask you to explain. How is it that your letters and those of the King to me or Frau v. Bülow are sealed, and their envelopes addressed, by the same hand? It is most curious. What is more, the enclosed envelope addressed to Fr. v. B., which I did not receive until the 17th inst., contained a letter from the King written on the 6th of Feb. The King told me that Count Holstein was now acting as mediator and forwarding all his letters to me. How is it that you now find yourself performing the same function? Please let me know: one word will suffice!
That is enough from me - Sapienti sat!
Sincerest good wishes from
your devoted servant,
R. Wagner.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 358