Dear Wagner,
By the date of these lines you will sufficiently see in what grief and sorrow I have been living for months. I was, it is true, in Weymar for three weeks, but immediately after the birthday of the Grand Duchess (February 16th) I returned here, where unfortunately I found the Princess still very ailing and in bed. On the 7th I have to be back in Weymar to conduct Raff's opera; the work is too important for Raff's career for me to neglect it. But the thought of that journey, while my whole soul, my whole faith, and all my love must remain here at the sick-bed, is terrible to me. Let us talk of you.
I could never think of forgetting you, and, if possible, still less of being angry with you. Forgive me that I did not sooner thank you cordially for B. and R.'s German version of my Lohengrin article. Your letter especially has pleased and flattered me highly. That you are satisfied with my conception of that splendid masterpiece of heart and soul Lohengrin is my exceeding rich reward. Immediately after my return to Weymar I shall have it printed (perhaps the Illustrirte Zeitung will publish it in one number), and shall send you the proof, which I must ask you to correct and return straight to Weber as quickly as possible.
R. can carefully read the article in one day, and send it to Leipzig by return of post.
As to the French original, I shall probably publish it as a separate pamphlet, together with my article on the Herder festival, and without the alterations and omissions made by Janin in the Journal des Débats of October 22nd. The title will be Fêtes de Herder et Goethe à Weymar, 25 et 28 Août, 1850.
From Brussels not a line! Without repudiating altogether the musical soil of Belgium, barren though hitherto it has been, with the exception of some individual talents, I can only advise you again to protest absolutely against a performance of your works under any direction but your own. The first condition you should impose on the management of the theatre is that they call you to Brussels. In that sense I shall answer in case they apply to me.
About B. I could tell you many things in a half-and-half way, but you had better think them out for yourself. Let me speak French, and don't repeat it.
B. is a nobleman who has spent long years in becoming a literary good-for-nothing. If he had possessed or acquired the necessary talent, he would in that direction have made himself a position as a nobleman. As it is, he is an amphibious creature, living in bogs on one side and getting dry in his water on the other. He has shown me the letter you wrote to him, but with this kind of people little is gained by explanation. They are not wanting in the good where the better would be required, and it is generally more advisable to be cautious with them than to complain, or correct their opinions. I think you might have been satisfied with thanking him simply for his article about Lohengrin, however awkward and badly argued certain passages may have been. Apropos of this, have you read the articles on Lohengrin in the Frankfort Conversationsblatt? They are certainly better meant and better written; and as you have thanked B., you might, I think, appropriately write a few lines to the author, who is a very decent man and one of your sincere and enthusiastic proselytes. Enclose the lines to him in the first letter you address to me at Weymar, and I will forward them to him at once.
Wiland is still imprisoned at Weymar, together with my manuscripts and scores. As soon as my valet returns I shall send you Wiland at once, but I am not going to call in a common, prosaic locksmith to set him at liberty.
I am looking forward to your book. Perhaps I may try on this occasion to comprehend your ideas a little better, which in your book Kunst und Revolution I could not manage very well, and in that case I shall cook a French sauce to it.
Brockhaus published a few days ago my pamphlet on the Goethe foundation (De la Fondation Goethe à Weymar). I shall send it you on the first opportunity. Of my articles on Chopin in the France Musicale, which I am likely to spin out through fifteen numbers, you have probably not heard at Zurich. B. read the original at Weymar. Farewell, be happier than I, and write soon to your truly devoted friend F. Liszt.
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #3835, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 1, No. 56