[...] Warmest thanks for your amiable letter!
Unhappily, all the pleasant things it contained faded before the news of Minna's condition. God knows how greatly I myself stand in need of comfort at present, but it seems that I am to get no peace! Up till now I have usually heard that the poor woman was tolerably well. Ottilie Brockhaus, who left her a few months ago, actually wrote of her robust appearance. I found this very comforting, for my only purpose in our separation was simply to avoid mutual friction. Therefore I have really let her want for nothing, and many people have even reproached me for doing this so lavishly, knowing that I am always in difficulties for money for myself. Well, I at least had the comfort of believing that she was well, if only outwardly, and that even her mistaken opinion of my character and nature, which she never can understand, contributed to that end.
And now the short description of her state contained in your letter has surprised and affected me terribly. I cannot compose myself, and weep without ceasing! I cannot tell you how grieved I am for the unhappy woman!—Of course I wrote to her at once—I hope comfortingly and encouragingly. [...]
It has now become a life-and-death question with me whether I shall be able to keep at my work undisturbed and get The Mastersingers ready for the theatres next winter. I have been dreadfully interrupted over and over again, so that I have sometimes thought I should be obliged to abandon the work altogether. It is all-important for me, therefore, not to stir from this place or allow any change in my circumstances until it is quite finished. [...]—A catastrophe involving Minna now would ruin me for ever. Oh, if only she will get well, and quietly leave all other anxieties to me! [...]
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Vol. 2, selected and ed. Wilhelm Altmann, trans. M. M. Bozman (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927), No. 563