Wagner's Letters

Mathilde Wesendonck to Richard Wagner

December 23, 1862 · Zurich

Overview

A three-line reply to Wagner's birthday greeting: dreams do come true, and the more reality withdraws, the more dreams keep watch.

Letter

I knew it well: dreams do come true. The more reality withdraws from us, the more do dreams keep watch. May Heaven still send you many such a dream!

Your Mathilde Wesendonck.

Source: Richard Wagner to Mathilde Wesendonck, trans. William Ashton Ellis (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905), No. 159