I promised to write to you as soon as I had something really good to tell you. Well, Liszt thinks that our St. Gall venture was a real success. I will tell you how well the concert turned out. Liszt's Orpheus interested me deeply; it is one of the most beautiful, most perfect, indeed the most incomparable of tone-poems. My enjoyment of this work was great! The public liked the Preludes better, and they were encored. Liszt was made very happy by my unfeigned appreciation of his works and expressed his joy thereat very movingly. I did not much enjoy the Eroica. My personal pleasure was submerged in the inexpressible efforts I had to make to spur the already exhausted orchestra to the required heights. Altogether, I no longer care much for Beethoven symphonies; I know them so well I have pretty well exhausted the interest of them. I may say as the result of Liszt's visit this time that my friendship for him is not diminished but materially strengthened. For the rest, my association with the two ladies and with the Princess in particular has after all affected me very favourably; the Princess's great kindness of heart has made me more equable and led me to govern my very excitable temper better.
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 320