Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of July 11, 1873

Overview

The day is marked by a blend of public news, domestic routine, and private feeling. Reports of deaths, operatic absences, and a worried note about a friend’s sick son give the entry a somber tone, while the household continues to move between the new house and the woods. The evening returns to poetry, architecture, and a sense that practical affairs are slowly settling into place.

Content

Friday, July 11:

The noble, fiery Mariani in Italy has died. In Berlin they are no longer performing Die Meistersinger at all! Claire writes that her only son has a bad heart. Thoughts of Fidi recently. R. said how terrible it must be to have to give up one’s only son to a war; if, for example, this son fell in the war between Prussia and Austria, how appalling it would be!

R. works; in the afternoon, to the new house, and then to the woods, I with the children. To our great astonishment, R. comes to meet us, announcing himself from afar with the Siegfried motive. In the evening Uhland. (Better understanding with our architect.)