Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of November 17, 1872

Overview

The musicians returned with another serenade, this time from Tannhäuser, and their traveling success in Swiss villages highlighted how widely the music was spreading. After routine visits and social calls, the evening performance of the Dutchman was marred by excessive cuts from the conductor Lachner. Although the audience called for R. loudly, they left after the second act because the final mutilation felt insulting.

Content

Sunday, November 17:

The orchestral players, the strings, serenade us again, this time with Tannhäuser. The five players have been making a tour of Switzerland with this potpourri, arranged by the musical director Lang, playing it in the very smallest villages with great success.

Paid and received calls. In the evening Holländer, cuts all over the place by the conductor, Vincenz Lachner, wherever he scented the chance of making an effect. The audience calls thunderously for R., but we leave after the second act, because the cut at the end, useless and insolent, has angered R.