Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of October 15, 1872

Overview

She writes to Nietzsche and is interrupted at lunch by the surprise arrival of her father, who has endured an exhausting overnight journey yet comes cheerful and in good health. He brings news from Weimar and reports that support is forming in New York, adding a wider political and artistic horizon to the household. His visit renews the family atmosphere just as R. continues with his own business concerns.

Content

Tuesday, October 15:

Wrote to Prof. Nietzsche. R. attends to business affairs. Lunch at one o’clock, when suddenly Käthchen reports, “The Herr Doktor is just coming up the steps,” and, indeed, it is my father, arriving from Schillingsfürst, where he has been spending a few days with Cardinal Hohenlohe.

He has survived an appalling journey, having had to change carriages five times during the night, etc.: a typical Bayreuth arrival. He comes to the house on foot with his servant Mischka and a porter, but he is cheerful and in good health. Lively conversation. Among other things he relates that the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Weimar are very much against Bayreuth; on the other hand, the people in New York send us the statutes of their Society, which has now been formed.