[Score excerpt] "Doch kann dem blei-chen Manne Er-lo-sung ein- sten noch wer-den!"
all is over. For me there is no salvation but death. Would that it found me in a storm at sea, not on a sick-bed! Yea, in the fire of Valhall I should like to perish. Consider well my new poem; it contains the beginning and the end of the world.
I shall have to set it to music, after all, for the Jews of
Frankfort and Leipzig; it will just suit them.
But stop; my epistle is getting wild and wilder; therefore I must conclude. Adieu, my Franciscus, the first and only one who stands before me like the heart of a giant! You indefatigable one, farewell. When they play the ballad tomorrow, think of me. I am sitting alone on the sofa, staring at the lamp and brooding over my good fortune in having gained you from this miserable world. Yes, yes, it is that which supports me.
Farewell, my friend. My affectionate regards to you!
Your
RICHARD WAGNER.
ZURICH, February 11th, 1853.
97.