Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of May 2, 1873

Overview

The morning begins playfully and affectionately, but quickly shifts into talk of business, public reception, and wounded feelings. R. remarks bitterly on the impossible conditions of his artistic life, yet the entry also shows his need for tenderness and mutual understanding. The middle and end of the day expand into memory, civic praise, charitable initiative, and harsh reactions to a misinterpreted performance.

Content

Friday, May 2:

The fine weather has returned. R. works on his score, which at first he finds difficult. One page is completed today. R. is much annoyed about the pamphlet, which is still not ready; I am worrying about the performance on the 22nd.

In the afternoon, with the children to the new house. The mayor is having a fine plane tree planted; the children watch eagerly. Blackbirds are singing, on a high chimney a stork on its nest. “This is happiness,” I think.

In the evening R. talks a lot about the Greeks, the Dorian state.