I am starting on my forthcoming journey to Hamburg with a very heavy heart because there are several most weighty decisions to be arrived at in my absence. Such I believe to be the approaching verdict as to the appointment of Rockel as provisional director of music; it will decide once for all whether an artist of no mean talent and learning is to be given the chance to ripen and develop, or whether he is to suffer his life long from a severe, almost annihilating repulse. On the other hand I recognise that my own interests are no little involved in this matter. Last Sunday evening Your Excellency told me in so many words that I no longer possessed the confidence of the Court, and therefore necessarily of Your Excellency, so completely as could be wished; that this lack of confidence referred particularly to my capacities as conductor; and that Your Excellency consequently thought it necessary to appoint as conductor of the orchestra another man who, Your Excellency may rest assured, would soon possess himself of what remains of Your Excellency's trust in me. Your Excellency repeatedly assured me that had I possessed the confidence of the Court as fully as could be desired you would have felt no inclination to seek a more talented conductor than Rockel. Here, it appears to me, arises just the situation which I had in mind as a possibility at the time of my appointment, and for which I provided at the time in writing, in the conviction that, if it arose, I could not reconcile it with my sense of honour to enjoy the advantages of a position when the confidence which should attach to it was lacking.
A man can serve but one God, the Truth that he recognises and honours as such. If, however, the accusation extends farther and covers those performances (few, unfortunately) which have offered myself and the orchestra problems such as those with which Mendelssohn, for instance, pre-occupies himself exclusively, and which alone call for the exertion of an artist's real powers, then I must regard it very seriously indeed. I can only believe that Your Excellency has felt obliged to tell me this is the case, since my credit in high quarters is not such as to convince Your Excellency that it is unnecessary to appoint another particularly talented orchestral conductor. If Your Excellency should feel moved to confirm this reading of the situation, I should still feel it a duty to draw your attention to the fact that the appointment of an honest yet somewhat commonplace musician such as Herr Bach would not meet the case nor the needs of the academy. Your Excellency should rather make it your aim to find some more renowned and considerable conductor, since upon my retirement, which would necessarily ensue, you would be in possession of the means to allot a better salary to the post you wish to fill than you can do now and for which Your Excellency would never regret the opportunity of having permanently secured the services of a really good artist. I, for my part, would thereupon present my most humble petition to His Majesty that His Most Gracious Majesty would be pleased to divest me of my functions, allowing me notwithstanding to rehearse and conduct my opera, and perhaps, in certain special cases and at His Majesty's pleasure, to conduct this or that performance as it is judged within the capacity of my limited talent, for which service I should naturally be allotted a lesser salary at His Majesty's pleasure.
My retirement, upon the above-mentioned terms, from the active directorship of the orchestra is moreover a matter of conscience with me on other grounds, the considerations put before me yesterday by Your Excellency being among them. The orchestra needs a leader possessing the complete and unreserved confidence of His Majesty and of Your Excellency, it being high time that such an one, being expressly assured of that confidence, should be entrusted with the task of making a full report upon the condition of that institution and upon the absolute necessity of certain remedies, answering to the present age and its demands, for the abuses which have sprung up within it. It is plain that a task of this kind, if it is to be successful, can only be entrusted to a man who, as I have said, is assured of the unconditional confidence of his superiors, a man, too, whose capacity for the task and whose judgment in claiming only what is necessary without exaggeration, may be absolutely relied upon. My recent discoveries compel me to confess my vanity in having flattered myself that I was not far from the point at which I might ask to be entrusted with the great honour of this task. In spite of the few opportunities afforded for really artistic achievement in the service of the Court Theatre, I made unremitting efforts to awaken and encourage the artistic sense of the orchestra which threatened to be extinguished beneath the burden of commonplace daily duties, so that we were often ourselves surprised by the success of our own efforts. By continuous endeavour I have been able to compose the differences originally existing between myself and the orchestra and I may now flatter myself that its members look with the utmost confidence to me as the man who can assist them in their difficulties. Nevertheless I am now forced to perceive that I lack what is to me the most important factor, the confidence of the Court.
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 106