Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of December 4, 1873

Overview

R. works on the Waltraute scene and is startled by the boldness of his own harmonic progressions. He explains dramatic details of the action, including Siegfried’s need for plunder and Waltraute’s sorrowful humanity. Meanwhile, the diarist is unsettled by hostile anonymous pamphlets but relieved by news that Hans is cheerful and playing well in Würzburg; the evening turns to Buddhism, where the contrast with Christianity becomes a subject of reflection.

Content

Thursday, December 4:

R. works; he has reached the Waltraute scene, and is himself shocked by his harmonic sequences. He talks about his work and says that Siegfried leaves Brünnhilde to go in search of plunder, “for they have got to live, and so he must get tributes from a few kings.” Of Waltraute he says that she speaks to Brünnhilde not as a mere messenger, but as a person ravaged by sorrow.

Thanks be to Heaven that R. is so cheerful, I wonder how this is possible, since we hear nothing pleasant from outside. This morning an anonymous communication entitled “What Is Fraud?” and another pamphlet, addressed to me, on the subject of frenzy; I do not know what it is that puts people into such a rage. Sascha Ritter wrote that Hans was in Würzburg with them and was very friendly and cheerful, asked very sympathetically about R. and myself, and played wonderfully.

Since it is the day of the Thursday gathering, I read Köppen on Buddhism with Malwida. The difference between the legends of Buddha and Christ is becoming increasingly clear to me; with Christ one must suffer and be redeemed, that is the religion of the poor; with Buddha one must know, that is the religion of the sages, the educated, which among the common people was bound to degenerate into superstition and the worship of relics.