My dear and faithful Friend!
You rejoiced me greatly by your very kind letter; accept my best thanks for the same.
The immeasurable sorrow you have had to bear has removed you to a distant and more glorified sphere, and thither I send you my most sympathetic greetings. My own life has been shrouded in darkness during the past few years; the gray sky which almost incessantly hung heavily above us at home has left its effects not only upon my health but also upon my mental nature.
Had I not had the immeasurable consolation of a family so dear to me, and been surrounded by a few rarely congenial friends, I cannot imagine what could have influenced me to have taken a thought about preserving my own life.
I cherish absolutely no hope for Germany and its conditions, and this is saying a great deal, as, when I entered with full consciousness upon the course I had mapped out for myself, I wrote on my flag, “Stand or fall with Germany!” For this reason an expensive sojourn in Italy can have absolutely nothing but a climatic significance for me; even this incredible Naples, with all of its life and movement, can serve only as a spectacle for my diversion and to cause me to forget; and even this it cannot really furnish me, as all the misery of our civilisation crowds constantly upon me in a thousand variations of poverty, barbarity, and vice.
In addition to this I have daily increasing cares, that of more and more being unable to meet the growing expenses arising out of my condition, with the means which I have at my command.
In being thus obliged to appeal to you for assistance, I have ever to keep in mind, in view of the rest so imperative for me, how I—to be perfectly frank—shall otherwise be able to manage to exist under the enormous demands made by the state of my health.
I have therefore seriously considered anew a trip to America, and have taken into account the great tax this will make upon my physical strength. To be frank, I have always recoiled from the thought of allowing myself to be dragged about by a speculator only out of avarice, in order that, under the most favourable conditions, I may eventually return with a little fortune and—then begin the misery all over again!—Yes, perhaps, to sacrifice my money again for an idea to which I think I have already sacrificed enough, only to realise in the end how this idea stands in relation to our entire German character.
In spite of this feeling, I must confide to you that the thought of settling permanently in America with my family, my idea, and my work has quite taken possession of me.
I have chiefly to regret that I did not sooner select a fresher and more fertile soil for the future of my works as well as for my family, and therefore my deep conviction of the decadence of European culture only induces me to consider all the more seriously and definitely this means of escape.
I am almost letting my decision depend upon how my offer is regarded by the Americans. At the present I must consider how I may extend my present sojourn, as my excellent local physician strongly recommends the sea baths, which cannot begin before June, as the best remedy for the complete restoration of my health.
This circumstance, which in many ways calls for due consideration, is particularly agreeable to me in one point, and that is the possibility that you and Adolph may visit us here.
This would be really something beautiful and worth while, and believe me, quite apart from the pleasure of our meeting, I long earnestly to show the beauties of this wonder world to those I love; it is indescribable!
My present troubles are nothing but the after effects of the climatic conditions in Bayreuth. Now we are wiser, scarcely leave our terraces and gardens, do not exhaust ourselves with long tours, avoid as far as possible the society and din of the streets, and give up ourselves entirely to the enjoyment of such air and such sunlight as one would rarely find anywhere else on earth—therefore—Auf Wiedersehen in Naples!
For to-day I say only a heartfelt fare you well. May you fathom all that I mean thereby.
Always your most grateful friend,
Richard Wagner.
Source: The Story of Bayreuth as Told in the Bayreuth Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Caroline V. Kerr (Small, Maynard and Company, 1912), No. 114