Decisive events have just been happening in my life; the last fetters which bound me to a world in which I must speedily have gone under, not only spiritually but physically, have fallen away. I have lost my health, my nerves are shattered through the ceaseless constraint imposed on me by my immediate environment. Just for the present now I shall live only for my recovery. I am provided for, and you shall hear from me from time to time. My dear fellow, I have just been looking through the score of my Lohengrin a little; otherwise I never read my own work. A great longing has flamed up in me to have this work performed. I urge this plea upon you. Get my Lohengrin produced! You are the only one whom I would ask to do this. I would entrust the creation of this opera to none but you. Produce it where you will, it is all the same to me even if it is only in Weimar. I am certain you will contrive all possible and necessary accessories and people will refuse you nothing. Produce Lohengrin and let it be your work to bring it to birth. [...]
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Vol. 1, selected and ed. Wilhelm Altmann, trans. M. M. Bozman (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927), No. 174