Thursday, May 8:
I have to refuse Desirée Artôt’s troupe the Italian opera it wishes R. to compose for its appearance in St. Petersburg. R. orchestrates. Letter from my nephew, holding out very little hope. From Brandt, agreement to electrical lighting! Daniela not well, development, perhaps? In the evening a telegram: the theater music assured. Great joy; may God now give His blessing! R. to the Thursday gathering.
Claire writes that my mother has received a prize from the Academy. When R. returns late, he tells me more about the proposed purchase of the plots with entrances to the palace gardens: the gentlemen were saying that the King might come and use it to consort in private with Wagner; to facilitate this, all palace gardens, not only here but throughout Bavaria, were to be closed to the public. “Well thought out. Pater Lamormain—if only the idea were not so clever,” etc.! This is a worthy addition to our previous experiences of Munich.