X.'s strong box resists a siege even more obstinately than does Silistria; storming it will do no good, and I have consequently nothing satisfactory to tell you. Returning here, I find a letter from Hulsen, definitely declining the performance of Tannhäuser at Berlin, and winding up with the following flourish: "It is obvious that, after two vain attempts to produce this work at the Royal Theatre, the management will not undertake a third as long as I have the honour of being at the head of it. I am sorry for this."
From another source I hear, however, that the matter is not to remain in this negative stage, and that in the very highest quarters there is a wish to call me to Berlin. The event must show; for the present I have only written a few lines in reply to Hulsen. What is all this story about the Musical Festival? Why did you bolt? Let me know when you happen to be in the mood.
After the Rotterdam festival I stayed a few days at Brussels to meet my two daughters. As soon as my large arrears of correspondence are disposed of, I shall settle down to my Faust, which is to be ready by the new year. The other things (symphonic poems) will also be in print by that time. I still feel very much fatigued after my hurried journey, and my personal regret at not being able to serve you makes me curtail these lines still further. Ah! good heavens! what can I say to you while La vergogna dura and while there is no means of removing that vergogna?
Franz Liszt
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #4234, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 2, No. 164