It was with feelings of joyful expectation that the master accepted the young King's invitation. He arrived at Munich at the beginning of May (1864), and was received with consideration. His personality made a strong impression on Ludwig, who assured him of his favour and warm interest. "The unthinkable, and the only thing that I required, has become a reality. Heaven has sent me a patron. Through him I live and understand myself!" exclaimed the poet-musician to friends who were awaiting him on his return from the Palace. After staying a few days in the Bavarian capital he continued his journey to Vienna, being now able, thanks to Ludwig's generosity, to discharge his debts. He soon, however, returned to Munich, and Pfistermeister, in the name of his master, bade him welcome to a beautifully situated villa on the lake of Starnberg, where he might live undisturbed for his art. Ludwig was in residence at this time at the adjacent Schloss Berg, where Wagner frequently visited him, and performed his works before him. The master's imagination, poetry, his attractive manner, all transformed the royal enthusiast's admiration into blind admiration. The elder man exerted a superhuman power over the youth, and his proximity had a positively electrifying effect on the King. Their life together became a decisive event in the lives of both. Full of pity for him, and happy in the consciousness of being able to assist him, Ludwig wrote on the day following their first meeting: "Feel assured that I will do all that lies in my power to make reparation to you for your earlier sufferings. I will for ever chase away the trifling sorrows of everyday life from your head. I will give you the repose you require, so that undisturbed in the pure sphere of your art you can unfold your genius in its entirety.... Unknowingly you were the only source of my joys. From my earliest years you were to me a friend who as no other spoke to my heart, my best teacher and upbringer." In spite of their difference in age it is placed beyond a doubt, that Wagner from the first moment warmly reciprocated the feelings of his protector. He thus writes to his friend Frau von Wille (May 1864): "He (the King) is unhappily so handsome and so intellectual, so full of soul and so glorious, that I fear his life must disappear like a fleeting dream of gods in this commonplace world. He loves me with the tenderness and warmth of first love. He knows me and all about me, and understands me as he does his own soul. He wishes me to live with him altogether, to work, rest, and have my works performed. He will give me everything I may require for this purpose. I am to complete the "Ring"; and he will have them put on the stage in the manner I desire. I am to be my own master, not Kapelmeister, nothing except myself and his friend!... All need is to be taken away from me, I am to have all that I require, only I am to remain with him!... You cannot imagine the charm of his glance.