My mood for Siegfried has already far outrun it; I can no longer adapt myself to a place which suits my mood - the realm of sadness. Truly it all seems to me as stale and superficial as can be. You can have no conception of our loneliness now, and as to my health, I feel heavy as lead.
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 323