I have just made up the packet for Weimar. It contains: 1. A big letter of three sheets to Liszt; 2. a letter to Ziegesar, with two hundred thalers (which K. has given me); and 3. the poem of Young Siegfried, which I now send with a light heart to Liszt to read.
The windfall in the R. family just at this moment appears to me almost a dispensation of Providence. The yearly allowance which Frau R. now allots to me will prove a powerful defence against the pressure of compromise and commonness, as well as a mighty weapon against the faint-heartedness of the art-world of to-day. Even without this piece of luck — so far, you know me well — I would not have moved a step out of my path, and the latest crisis in my artistic plans would have come about not one jot otherwise than is now the case. Only I should have had such troubles, anxieties, and struggles, that I must have set to work in sad and bitter mood, and not, as now, in the highest spirits. Say this to my dear friend, Frau R. Tell her that perhaps even she cannot estimate what, by her latest promise, she has done for me — perhaps for us all. But tell her besides, that when, through you, she gave me the advice not to break with Weimar without necessity, she had no idea of the state of matters. Say to her that it was not arrogance, obstinacy, or caprice that made me feel unfriendly towards Weimar; but that now I have a scheme which, by its very nature and the manner in which it has taken root in my mind, quite prevents me from thinking any more about Weimar. Ought she not to trust me, feeling that, at least now, I should never change my mind unless there were some real occasion for it?
I cannot write much more to you, for it is getting late. Do deliver this letter to Frau P.; it will calm the good woman.
A. at last writes to me that Härtels are quite willing to keep my book; only I must make a few changes. If the fools would only send me what I am to alter!
Why three articles on the first part of Oper und Drama, which really contains little but criticism, and only two on the third part? Yet this third part is indeed the most important to bring to a proper understanding, because it goes to the root of the matter. Do not forget, as centre and axis of the whole, to give prominence to "subject-matter" — second part; for the important point here is, that I treat form purely from this aspect, whereas others have always dealt with form quite apart from contents.
The Norma aria (for Lablache in Paris) is the famous number alluded to, is it not?
Farewell for to-day! Your
R. W.
New address: am Zeltweg, Zurich.
No more. I return on Sunday, so write now to Zurich.
Source: Richard Wagner's Letters to His Dresden Friends, Theodor Uhlig, Wilhelm Fischer, and Ferdinand Heine, trans. J. S. Shedlock (Scribner & Welford, 1890), No. 45