[...] Many things have happened to me. The young King of Bavaria has banished my hesitation about where to settle, as he has persuaded me to move permanently to Munich. In telling you this, may I add the urgent request that you will do your part to prevent discussion in the newspapers, as this is the express wish of the King? You shall hear further details later as occasion offers.
For the moment this much only—now that my place of abode is definitely settled, I can be all the more definite in my intentions of taking up and finishing The Mastersingers forthwith. I shall not leave Munich again, and propose to send you more MS. by the end of this month. Therefore, let us abide strictly by my most recent proposals. Please begin the printing at once. [...]
[...] The Mastersingers must be performed next January. [...]
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Vol. 2, selected and ed. Wilhelm Altmann, trans. M. M. Bozman (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927), No. 576