I did not let this occur in regard to Rheingold.  The whole of this composition had been finished in outline on the 16th of January, 1854, and consequently the plan for the musical structure of this work in four parts had been drawn in all its thematic proportions, as it was in this great prelude that these thematic foundations of the whole had to be laid.

I remember how much my health improved during the writing of this work; and my surroundings during that time consequently left very little impression on my mind.

During the first months of the new year I also conducted a few orchestral concerts.  To please my friend Sulzer, I produced, amongst other works, the overture to Gluck’s Iphigenia in Aulis, after having written a new finale to it.  The necessity for altering the finale by Mozart induced me to write an article for the Brendel musical journal on this artistic problem.  These occupations did not, however, prevent me from working at the Rheingold score, which I quickly dotted down in pencil on a few single sheets.  On the 28th May I finished the instrumentation of the Rheingold.  There had been very little change in my life at home; things had remained the same during the last few years, and everything went smoothly.  Only my financial position was rather precarious, owing to the past year’s expenses for furniture, etc., and also to the more luxurious mode of living I had adopted, on the strength of my belief that my operas, which were now better known, would bring me in a larger income.

The most important theatres, however, still held back, and to my mortification all my efforts at negotiation with Berlin and Vienna proved fruitless.  In consequence of these disappointments I suffered great worries and cares during the greater part of that year.  I tried to counteract these by new work, and instead of writing out the score of Rheingold I began the composition of the Walkure.  Towards the end of July I had finished the first scene, but had to interrupt my work on account of a journey to the south of Switzerland.

I had received an invitation from the ’Eidgenossische Musikgesellschaft’ to conduct their musical festival at Sion that year.  I had refused, but at the same time promised that if possible I would conduct Beethoven’s Symphony in A major at one of the gala concerts.  I intended on the way to call on Karl Ritter, who had gone to live with his young wife at Montreux on the Lake of Geneva.  The week I spent with this young couple gave me ample opportunities for doubting whether their happiness would be of long duration.

Karl and I left shortly afterwards for the musical festival in Valais.  On our way we were joined at Martigny by an extraordinary young man, Robert von Hornstein, who had been introduced to me on the occasion of my great musical festival the year before as an enthusiast and a musician.  This quaint mortal was regarded as a very welcome addition to our party, particularly by young Ritter, and both