Please forward the enclosed proof to Brendel, so that the good man may get a notion of his bad editorship.
To Brendel.
Dear friend,
The somewhat tardy publication of my letter about Liszt I recently read in your paper, and saw, to my regret, that it was very incorrect, and even showed several omissions, disfiguring the sense, owing to the inattention of the printer. At first I thought of forwarding you a list of errata, but considered, on reflection, that such corrections are never read in context with the article, and therefore made up my mind to send a revised version to Zellner at Vienna, asking him to print it at once in his paper. My intention is by no means to punish you for the neglect shown to me, but to induce those interested in the matter to read the corrected letter once again. In case you intentionally made such changes as "Purer form of art" into "Newer," etc., you have certainly misunderstood me very much, and in that case you must look upon my correction as a demonstration against yourself, although only in private. But I presume that most of the mistakes were caused by the fact that instead of my manuscript you received a copy, which you should not have accepted.
Shall I soon see you? I live in the greatest retirement, and do as much work as my health will let me.
Best remembrances from your Richard Wagner.
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #4234, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 2, No. 237