I beg Your Excellency graciously to consider that under existing circumstances and after my late experiences my desire to retire from my position as kapellmeister cannot but be a just one. While I am fully aware of the fact that on the one hand my affairs are not yet in order and, on the other, which is more important, that I owe it to a benefactor, to whom I am personally indebted for the greatest services, to pursue my project with due reflection and without precipitation, I think I may count upon Your Excellency's approval of my discretion. Accordingly, in humbly requesting Your Excellency to relieve me of official duties pending the settlement of this case, I am not afraid that it will be attributed to gross infraction of the duties of office, for I am still conscious that I have not neglected the essential obligations of a kapellmeister in the slightest degree.
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 129