[...] Something—so I believe—will come of our Bayreuth after all. [...] To be brief: (1) I shall keep Parsifal wholly and exclusively for Bayreuth. Even the King will not claim it for Munich but will send me his choir and orchestra to Bayreuth every year for its performance. (2) There are to be annual performances, with entrance allowed to anybody (but at high prices!). (3) The patronage fund will serve as capital for the undertaking. As this fund increases by the takings each year it will serve to produce all my other works. I shall be obliged to relinquish all profits for myself, as I shall not even publish the score of Parsifal.
I must therefore look elsewhere for my own needs. Five months in North America! (September 1881 to April 1882) ought to give me an independent livelihood.
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Vol. 2, selected and ed. Wilhelm Altmann, trans. M. M. Bozman (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927), No. 721