Dearest Friend! Magdeburg, 19 April, 1836. I send you herewith a kind of report on Magdeburg. There is not much to be said and on the whole I have not said much. I have mentioned you, though not as much as I might have wished, and I have taken care not to compromise you. If you want to alter the article, you may do so. I could not altogether avoid speaking of my own personality, since in any case I was bound to be cited as musical director in any report of musical life in Magdeburg. Secondly, it would be absurd to put an undeserved slight on myself, and, thirdly, my special reason for writing about my opera Das Liebesverbot is that no one else does and I much wish that it should be discussed. It is tragic that one is forced to help oneself! Adieu, my dearest Schumann.
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 33