My best friend,
I had just come down from the Alps when I found your letter, which has again given me the greatest joy. I thank you with all my heart for your advice, so speedily given. You agree with me as to Hartel's offer; I expected as much, and it confirms my right judgment in the matter. So, then, it is to be the full score of Siegfried. I feel as safe with you as a child in its mother's bosom; you take such care of me, dearest friend. Uhlig is here. He has taken every trouble and made every sacrifice to save enough for a visit to me in Switzerland. Considering his cool, quiet, and passionless nature, the faithful attachment and friendship of this young man are of great value to me. As a very young musician, he attracted my attention in the Dresden orchestra by his uncommon musical certainty and circumspection. Struck by traits of unusual force of character and a firm, manly disposition, I admitted him to intimate intercourse, and found a man who, in the poorest circumstances, had developed himself entirely out of himself. Thus I gained a friend who later, from a distance, made it the task of his life, so far as his power extended, to serve me in a manner which, the inclination being equal in both cases, has been surpassed only by your brilliant genius.
You wanted to have some numbers of the Deutsche Monatsschrift. I happen to possess them, and send them to you, although I do not quite see what use they can be to you. My book Oper und Drama, in which I certainly express myself in a decisive, firm, and detailed manner, is passing through the press very slowly and will probably not be ready for two months. Out of this book I have, by special desire, communicated some articles about modern dramatic poetry to the Monatsschrift, but am now sorry for it, for, torn out of their context, they are not particularly clear. I send them to you all the same, although I should almost like to ask you to ignore them. As you will not get the Monatsschrift, because it will be discontinued, I send you another number with an article entitled Wir by Solger; it is written so prettily that I should almost like you to read it. So many stupid things have appeared in that Monatsschrift that the detached good bits really deserve attention. As to Heine's stupid joke, you will probably not need comfort. Lord, how delighted I am with my Young Siegfried! He will deliver me once for all from literature and journalism. This month I need fully to recover my health in order to rush at the music next month. I will send you the copy of the poem by Uhlig, if not sooner. May the God who dwells in both of us keep you healthy and happy. With pleasure I see from your letter that the Princess also is recovering. I hope you will both get safely back to Weimar, which is more and more becoming my real spiritual home.
Richard Wagner
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #3835, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 1, No. 64