You have given me a delightful Easter Sunday, dearest, most unique of friends, by your letter. By the loving "Azymen" which you offer me with so much kindness and friendship, you have given me strength, health, and total oblivion of all other leaven. Receive my most cordial thanks, and let it be a joy to you to have given me so much and such heartfelt joy. That joy shall not be disturbed by a few misprints and omissions. The essential thing is that you love me, and consider my honest efforts as a musician worthy of your sympathy. This you have said in a manner in which no one else could say it. I confess candidly that when I brought my things to you at Zurich, I did not know how you would receive and like them. I have had to hear and read so much about them, that I have really no opinion on the subject, and continue to work only from persistent inner conviction, and without any claim to recognition or approval. Several of my intimate friends- -for example, Joachim, and formerly Schumann and others—have shown themselves strange, doubtful, and unfavourable towards my musical creations. I owe them no grudge on that account, and cannot retaliate, because I continue to take a sincere and comprehensive interest in their works. Imagine then, dearest Richard, the unspeakable joy which the hours at Zurich and St. Gallen gave me when your beaming glance penetrated my soul and lovingly encompassed it, bringing life and peace. In a few days I shall write to you at greater length about the Hartel affair, which unfortunately remains in a very unsatisfactory stage. At Altenburg things are looking very sad. The Child has been somewhat seriously ill for the last three weeks, and cannot leave her bed. The Princess also had to doctor herself, and is not yet allowed to leave her room; and I, after having been in bed for quite six weeks, am only just able to hobble about the theatre and the castle. In spite of this, I have better and best hopes for my dear ones and for you, who live in a high place of my heart, and to whom I feel and confess that I wholly belong.
Franz Liszt
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #4234, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 2, No. 238