Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of May 4, 1872

Overview

R. had a poor night as the weather shifted, and the day brought news from Herr Wilhelmj that he would arrive on the 9th. The household read alarming reports from Naples and Vesuvius, while R. argued sharply against a mild explanation of earthquakes and reflected bitterly on the Jesuits, German hatred in Bohemia, and the seductive but brutal veneer of Latin culture. After praising the park and air around them as distinctly German, they went into town, where R. held a conference, the first purchases for Bayreuth were made, and 535 florins arrived from the agents, marking an encouraging beginning.

Content

Saturday, May 4:

R. did not have a good night; the weather is changing. Letter from Herr Wilhelmj, the violinist, announcing his arrival on the 9th.

We read details of the terrible conditions in Naples, Vesuvius in violent eruption. R. is vexed by the latest explanation of earthquakes as internal collapses caused by the erosion of underground springs; this seems to him much too gentle.

Then he speaks of the Jesuits and how everything always turns out to their advantage; their banishment of the Protestants from Bohemia produced a hatred of the Germans, which was of use to them, a terrible irony! Roman, Latin culture, sentimentality, glossing over of brutality and inartistic nature, subtlety, all play their part in it: feelings, but no feeling.

When we expressed our pleasure in the lovely park and the air here, R. said: “Yes, this is German. I believe going to live in Italy would have meant my early death; perhaps I should have stayed alive, but become childish.”

This morning R. woke me with a passage from the Idyll. Eternal times now past! We drive into town; R. holds his conference, and I make purchases, my first in Bayreuth! The agents Voltz and Batz send 535 florins. The first beginnings. Home rather late and then to bed.