Monday, December 18:
Did not sleep, but in good spirits; R. looks very well and splendidly handsome. First rehearsal; displeasure, people have not eaten, prefer not to rehearse the A Major Symphony; feeling that this will be the last concert R. conducts. Very fine apartment in the Hôtel de l’Europe; dinner with R. alone; afterward visit from Baroness Reden-Esebeck, a Hungarian, first met in Szegszárd, who is married to a baritone singer in Mannheim. Then Frl. Reis. In the evening rehearsal, Die Zauberflöte Overture and A Major Symphony—indescribable impression; unfortunately Mme. Serov sits down beside me, which annoys R. very much. Tears that our communion in music can be disturbed by such ugly faces! Arrival of Prof. Nietzsche, who has literally run away from Basel. — Yesterday R. told me of a dream he had in Bayreuth: he had seen me, and I had teeth which gleamed like opal, and he had “kissed me to death.” — R. to bed after each rehearsal, since so worn out.