Dearest friend,
The news of the happy birth of Siegfried pleases me much, and I thank you for letting me know at once. How I should like to hear you read it and to visit you at Zurich! But, alas! this year it is quite impossible for me to think of any journey whatever. At the end of this month I hope that the health of the Princess will allow her to start; and in order to make the journey less fatiguing, we shall return slowly by Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfort, and Eisenach. You, dear friend, must need rest and a little country life after the completion of your work. Please do not trouble yourself on my account by making at once a copy of Siegfried; you will send it me on occasion later on at Weymar, where, locked up, still remains Wiland, which, to my regret, I have not been able to send you, not having the necessary keys at hand. I have explained this to Uhlig. If he is with you, remember me kindly to him, and excuse me to him once more for my involuntary negligence.
The Härtels are quite comme il faut in their personal and business relations. Dr. Härtel came to Weymar to hear Lohengrin, and I am delighted to hear that his impression has been confirmed by an imprimatur. As you ask my advice about what you had better do, accept his proposition or hold it over till Siegfried, so as to make him publish the score of a new work for you, I have no hesitation in saying that, for all manner of reasons, I should think it preferable to publish now only the pianoforte score of Lohengrin, and to make arrangements with Härtel that the pianoforte score and full score of Siegfried should appear soon after the Weymar performance, which probably, and at the latest, will take place in February, 1853, for the fête of H.R.H. the Grand Duchess. Lohengrin will lose nothing by waiting chez nous.
As I wrote to you before, it will take some time before this glorious work meets with the swans which are to draw its barque to the banks of the Spree and the Elbe. Ganders and turkeys would like to lead it to shipwreck, but do not lose patience, and have confidence in the moderate amount of practical knowledge which your friend places loyally at your service and disposal. In the early days of August my pamphlet Lohengrin et Tannhäuser will appear; it was written for a purpose which neither you nor your friends have hitherto been able to guess, and which it will take me some time to attain. I am far, however, from despairing of that attainment, but shall not let you know till the moment of success, in order to avoid unnecessary words—a habit which is growing upon me more and more. If you follow my advice, dear friend, write to H. in the sense indicated by you; that is, ask him to keep his good intentions for the engraving of one of your full scores till after the first performance of Siegfried, and to publish for the present only the pianoforte score of Lohengrin. Send to me here, please, if you possess them, the numbers of the Monatsschrift of Kollatschek containing your and Uhlig's articles. Heine in the same number has thought it necessary to make some of his rhymed jokes at my expense with his usual spirit. More than a fortnight ago I subscribed to that magazine through my bookseller, but as yet it has not reached me. Farewell, dearest friend. Believe me that I am truly vexed at not being able to attend the rendezvous which you propose, and which would have given me great pleasure—the pleasure of seeing you again and of having plenty of talk with you.
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #3835, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 1, No. 63