Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of March 4, 1872

Overview

A good letter from Dannreuther reports that the Society is being established in London, while the day itself is bright and springlike. Yet the writer’s joy is shadowed because R. feels unwell and unsettled, though he still manages some work before tiring in the evening. They spend the night reading Schopenhauer and end with a prayer for his strength and courage to finish his work.

Content

Monday, March 4:

Letter from a Herr Dannreuther, very good, who reports the setting up of the Society in London. Splendid spring day, but R. is not well and is very unsettled, which sours for me the blue sky and the gleaming mountains, the singing birds and the fluttering butterflies! Out of doors a lot with Fritz, who leaves us in the afternoon; R. has done some work after all. In the evening he is tired; we read a little Schopenhauer. God give him strength and courage to complete his work! Blessings on him!

[End of the fourth notebook of the Diaries. The next begins: “In the fifth year of my happiness, March 1872.” In the margin of the first entry: “‘Papa always pomade,’ says Fidi as he goes into his father’s room and finds him shaving.”]