[...] I have heard nothing further from America; everything seems to fade like smoke. I hope Fate means to spare me the calamity into which I should otherwise probably have been lured by desire of gain.
Some time ago I began work again. Before autumn I shall slowly finish Tristan. You will be amazed at this score some day. I tentatively fix the performance in Karlsruhe in October, November or December. I promise myself that this work will make a great impression and hope it may help towards the success of my Nibelungs. [...]
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Vol. 2, selected and ed. Wilhelm Altmann, trans. M. M. Bozman (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927), No. 417