Sunday, December 28:
Went to church, unfortunately with little edification; afterward, a visit from Councillor Kraussold, who also does not particularly convince me of the value of the Protestant clergy for the nation. R. receives a letter from Hermann Brockhaus, congratulating him on the decoration.
At midday Richter brings the newly discovered tenor, Dr. of law Glatz, a tall and imposing young man with a powerful voice, independent and determined not to adopt the usual stage career. Our Siegfried, perhaps?
Lunch with the two Hungarians, then a visit to the house. I stay inside the conservatory, reflecting. Oh, if my love could only raise him above all the wretchedness and torment of this earth!
In the evening all our musicians together; the Idyll is played; Richter distinguishes himself with his rapid grasp of Götterdämmerung. Discussion about the fact that, of all the instruments, the harp is the only one of which R. does not know the technique; but I beg him not to have a single note of his harp passages altered, since I find the virtuosic entrance of the harp very repugnant. Only for the rainbow in Das Rheingold does he wish it to be altered: “The harp should give the effect of a cloud of incense.”