Zurich, end of August, 1856. By an extraordinary coincidence I have heard through a most discreet and, for the present, confidential channel, that the Grand Duke of Weimar proposes very seriously to entice me to Weimar by hook or by crook, and that having been told of my pressing need of an undisturbed, peaceful and pleasant place to live in, he thinks of offering me such a place at the Wartburg or at one of his pleasure castles. Now if the fulfilment of this one wish of mine, which I shall decidedly never see accomplished in Zurich and its neighbourhood, should finally decide me to abandon a refuge grown almost indispensably precious to me through my few but irreplaceable friends here, and to enter, perhaps, into obligations which, though not expressly stipulated, are yet certain to be imposed, it will just be a fresh proof of what trifles, looked at broadly, often determine, rule and overmaster the life of an artist of my stamp.
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 311