There is about to be a new election to the directorship of the Liedertafel. I think I may take it as certain that the choice will again fall on me for a variety of friendly considerations, in spite of recent complaints about my discharge of a choir conductor's functions. I hold it my duty, therefore, less for personal reasons than in the interests of the society itself, to say beforehand that I am unable upon any consideration to fill the post of choir conductor any longer. May I be permitted quite openly to state my reasons? They are concerned solely with the well-being of the Liedertafel, which would most certainly be imperilled by my retaining my position longer. A society like the Liedertafel needs a conductor with time and inclination to give far more care and thought to his work than I have been, or can be, able to do. Herr Conductor Hiller is at present settled in Dresden and, what is most to our present purpose, is without an official appointment. I am convinced that no event could have occurred more fortunate for the Liedertafel. What the Liedertafel hoped for from me it would certainly obtain, and obtain more fully, from Herr Hiller, a man of capacity and artistic renown. His chief recommendation as compared with myself, however, is that he has no official business to attend to and could devote himself more exclusively than I could do to the conductorship of the Liedertafel.
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 117