My dear young friend,
Let me begin by congratulating you most warmly upon your safe and honourable return from the War: there is no finer way in which you could have commended yourself to me than by approaching me from this quarter. -
Your decision to give up your University studies in order to devote yourself solely to music depresses me. I have had the saddest experiences in this respect. The fact that music may seem to us more potent than anything else should not persuade us to become exclusively musicians, but rather to grant music entry into every aspect of our lives; in this way it will make life noble and beautiful, whereas only in the very rarest cases shall we ourselves develop into truly beautiful and noble beings if we choose it as our profession.
The able and loyal individual gets into bad company here, a company whose character I have adequately described elsewhere. I know not a single musician whom I could recommend to you for his company or for instruction: I know of no school to which I would care to direct you. A true musician is conceivable only as one who, as a musician, grew up untutored and who knew nothing but music: someone who plays the fiddle or some wind instrument, someone who sings or is a proper bandsman, and who - if it is his calling - will then become a great musician. But no one will become one who has already proceeded to train his mind along exact lines. Music works on the spirit like some wonderful intoxication: if you imprint that spirit upon your life, music will be your redemptress; if you yourself stretch out your hand to touch it, it will be your living hell.
A kindly fate has blessed me with a son in my advancing years. In time to come he will decide his own life according to his own strongest impulses: the only thing I stipulate is that he learns something quite popularly useful; I have arranged with his mother that he should be enjoined to learn what he will need to become a surgeon. If he wants to become a musician, no one shall direct him to a teacher; if he finds one of his own accord, well - he is, after all, his own master.
I hope that you will see from this that I am serious, and that you will remain well-disposed towards me. Assuring you of my best wishes, I remain
Your devoted servant
Richard Wagner
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 401