Most Excellent Herr Schumann,
I have been in Paris almost a year and a half. It is magnificent that I have not as yet starved to death. You will soon hear great things of me for I am upon the point of becoming immensely famous. First of all, however, to the occasion of these lines. I hear that you have set Heine's Grenadiers to music and that the Marseillaise comes in at the close. Last winter I composed it too and I too introduced the Marseillaise at the close. That is a significant thing! I composed my Grenadiers straight away to a French translation which I had done here and with which Heine was satisfied. It was sung here and there, and brought me the Order of the Legion of Honour and a 20,000 frs. yearly pension direct from Louis Philippe's privy purse.—These honours have not made me proud and I herewith, quite privately, re-dedicate my composition to you, notwithstanding it is already dedicated to Heine. You will know how to acknowledge this distinction and how to make the necessary declarations. Similarly I may tell you that I enthusiastically accept the private dedication of your Grenadiers and await the dedication copy. [...]
P.S. Don't pitch into Meyerbeer so vigorously. I have that man to thank for everything, and more especially for the fame so shortly to be mine. [...]
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Vol. 1, selected and ed. Wilhelm Altmann, trans. M. M. Bozman (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927), No. 52