Sunday, November 10:
Schiller-Luther Day! Preparations for the journey; taking Faust with us. Yesterday evening we read the Euphorion scene and the garden scene. We are always coming back to this unique work, though the Euphorion scene “is designed only for a highly cultivated public.”
I did not sleep well; the news about our friend in Basel had upset me too much. Saying goodbye to the children, very sad. May God take good care of them! Good and peaceful journey with R.
When I tell him, “I have the feeling that God loves us and is protecting us,” he says, “Yes, without a doubt. The whole world is blind, but within it is the urge for truth, for knowledge, for light; however the blindness finds expression, even in the persecution of truth, nevertheless this urge is still there. All the good there ever was is still there; one only has to disregard time and space to realize that eternity is always present. One must also not bother too much about forms. Greatness is always emerging, and as long as there is light, it cannot be put out; it must continue to shine.”
Through this comforting immersion in generalities we forget the specific examples of baseness and arrive in Würzburg in good spirits. The excellent Ritters come to meet us; accommodation in the Kronprinz hotel. At 7 o’clock to Don Giovanni, but the worthy time-beater spoils it all, leaving R. with a melancholy impression. The singers, particularly the women, are tolerably gifted, but disgracefully led.
When I tell him that after a certain point in such performances I cease to hear anything, he says: “Yes, it is all wrapped up in a kind of somnolence; whatever is still awake in the singers is vile, all their good qualities are slumbering. The public, also insensitive, finds pleasure in this terribly ravaged masterpiece, and all your good qualities of earnestness turn into apathy. It is deplorable.”