Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of September 8, 1873

Overview

Marie Ddnhoff sent four signed patronage certificates, offering some concrete support. The narrator worried about the Crown Prince’s visit and the political implications for Bavaria. Kietz came for a sitting, and later R. and Schure stayed for music from Die Meistersinger and Götterdämmerung. R. was distracted from his real work by corrections to Die Walküre, which deeply troubled the narrator because she feared he might never finish the score.

Content

Monday, September 8:

Marie Dönhoff sends four signed certificates of patronage. Discussion of the Crown Prince’s visit brings me dismal thoughts that the Prussians must consider the situation in Bavaria quite untenable, and therefore they no longer need to show consideration. First sitting with friend Kietz. In the evening he and Schure are with us; we make music, first from Die Meistersinger, then from Götterdämmerung, the Norns’ scene and the Rhinemaidens.

R. is kept from his work, what I call his real work, by the corrections to Die Walküre. A grief to me; sometimes I ask myself in alarm whether he will ever be able to finish this score.