The latest supplement to Brockhaus’s Encyclopaedia contains an article belatedly devoted to me which states, amongst other things:
Following the ending of the Franco-Prussian War, influential friends at the Prussian Court sought to bring Wagner to Berlin to fill the position of General Music Director there, a position that had been vacant since the death of Meyerbeer; they met with no success, since another institution, Joachim’s School, had already been summoned into life with the aim of fostering music more effectively. W. thereupon turned back to Bavaria with renewed affection.
Since the authority of the Encyclopaedia could well outlive me, I am protesting in good time against the inaccuracy of the above information: none of my friends could seek occasion to obtain a Prussian appointment for me since all of them know how much I value the lifelong kindness shown me by the King of Bavaria, a boon which consists in my being able to live freely for my art without a fixed appointment, for which reason there could be no conceivable grounds why I should at any time need to “renew” my affection for him who granted me that boon and for whom I feel only gratitude and reverence.
If, in the light of this assurance, my friends should feel some doubt as to the credibility of those scholars who, in matters of art and music, have contributed to Brockhaus’s Encyclopaedia, it will not be necessary for me to expose the malicious insinuation contained within the above statements.
Richard Wagner.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 417