[...] I found the right frame of mind to make a success of the second act. During the last few evenings Ritter and Winterberger have been playing over to me the principal parts, little by little. It was clear then that I had made something beautiful! All my earlier works, poor things, have to give place to this one act! That is how I turn upon myself and ever destroy all my children but one! [...]
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Vol. 2, selected and ed. Wilhelm Altmann, trans. M. M. Bozman (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927), No. 398