Troublesome as my letters may prove, I must unhappily once again inflict a written communication upon Your Excellency. My position as regards the opera at the Royal Court Theatre has repeatedly brought trouble upon me, and in certain moods I have often pondered the possibility of reconciling it with my position to withdraw from all responsibility for the business side of things, in which I am, in certain quarters, supposed to be deeply involved and on account of which I am exposed to views and opinions which injure me the more, the higher the influence they erroneously attribute to me. How little weight my voice really has, Herr Dr. Gutzkow, among others, knows very well, and this makes his recent behaviour the more brazen.
May I now draw Your Excellency's attention to a letter about theatrical affairs in Dresden, recently published in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung? It is, in itself, a most depressing idea that a man who entered upon journalism but a short time ago, and since then has made himself but superficially acquainted with the theatre, though very thoroughly with the theatrical chronique scandaleuse, and has never evinced the slightest proof that he knows anything at all of the matter, should suddenly have attained to the chief technical control, almost even to the administrative control, of an institution which has previously produced good work. I should not, however, have felt I had any occasion to make a personal complaint in the interests of the opera while I could suppose his instructions would have weight only in matters of the spoken drama. I could not, indeed, fail to observe to what a pass this man has brought matters in a very short space of time, how his tasteless and ignorant instructions and the pretensions he makes have brought upon him the scorn and laughter of the whole company of players, and therefore I could not remain indifferent when I discovered almost immediately that the same man was to superintend the management of the opera also. It was principally this discovery which kept me away from Your Excellency at the beginning of the year. I will not attempt to deny that vexation was the cause of this. Your Excellency is aware what else came to light during this period. The Queen's Musketeers was Herr Gutzkow's achievement, Iphigenia in Aulis was mine. This librettist's participation in the affairs of the opera, however, has reached what I can only call a climax of shameless impertinence since the newspaper report which I have cited. It is to be hoped he will not attempt to deny that the report was his own, for if he does it can be proved against him. In it Your Excellency can see the man as he is, and as he has long since plainly appeared to people who knew him previously: that is, a journalist, a maker of cliques, one who, as is clear in the present instance, cares not for the good of our opera but wishes to establish his own power in all departments and would like to choose the personnel of the opera from those who belong to his party.
This ill-disposed person, who destroys confidence everywhere through his intrigues and calumnies, is preparing inevitable moral destruction for our whole enterprise, and is particularly troublesome to me, who am openly, warmly and enthusiastically working for high ends, and who, without this added burden, have only too frequently had to see my efforts rewarded by misunderstanding and suspicion. The sorrow with which I see myself doomed by this kind of thing to ever-increasing loathing and, as a consequence, to inactivity, to the non-fulfilment of the expectations justly based on my capacities, is so great and so just that if outward circumstances had been more favourable I should have had no hesitation in asking His Majesty for my complete discharge.
If Your Excellency cannot immediately see your way at least to inhibit Herr Dr. Gutzkow officially from interference with operatic affairs and from attendance at meetings dealing with opera, and if Your Excellency is unable to decide to give the management of the opera unreservedly into my hands as was formerly the case, I am determined to leave it to the wisdom of the King's Majesty to judge how far and in what manner my known capacities as dramatic composer and conductor of good music may be used in the service of His Majesty, and may render me eligible for a salary sufficient to enable me to fulfil my obligation to the Pension Fund, but without laying upon me official duties touching operatic management which I could not conscientiously undertake in the spirit of my oath.
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 127