Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of July 29, 1873

Overview

The family lived quietly with her father, whose health had improved and who seemed to enjoy the unfamiliar domestic routine. He still had French supplies, but they gave him German things to read instead. She took the children to the Eremitage, where Lusch misbehaved toward Eva. The evening returned to music, and she also records a sharp reply from R. to criticism of his essay on Devrient.

Content

Tuesday, July 29:

Quiet and uneventful life with my father, who has regained his health and seems to enjoy sharing with us a life to which he is not accustomed. He is still well provided with French products, but we give him many German things, which he then reads. Drive to the Eremitage with the children; Lusch behaves badly toward Eva.

In the evening, first movement and scherzo from Beethoven's Op. 106, the A-flat minor Prelude from Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues, conjured up by my father's magic. (Our good friend A. Frommann writes how horrified she is by the essay in the 8th volume on Herr Devrient and his style. R. replied curtly, saying that he does not write such things for pleasure.)