Dearest Franz,
Your last letter found me again on a sick bed. Today I am scarcely recovered, and fear another relapse; that is how I am. Today I received the second instalment of your Symphonic Poems, and I feel all of a sudden so rich that I can scarcely believe it. Unfortunately it is only with great difficulty that I can gain a clear conception of them. This would be done with lightning rapidity if you could play them to me. I am looking forward with the eagerness of a child to studying them. If I could only be well again! (Do you want the third act of the Valkyrie? My copyist works so slowly that there will be plenty of time for you to let me know your wishes. The copy of the full score of the Rhinegold I expect back from Klindworth before long, and shall send it to you.) I am going to take a purgative in order to avoid the return of my illness. I wish I could, instead, start for Purgatory at once.
Richard Wagner
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #4234, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 2, No. 216