Saturday, January 24:
The long-awaited royalties from Berlin arrive at last; it seems Herr von Hülsen always sends them with chagrin, and R. must always cable for them. For this quarter they amount to 1,400 thalers, and show that R.'s works produce the biggest receipts. Eye trouble keeps me from writing or reading, and R. takes over the evening reading. After it we converse until nearly midnight. “I have what I want,” he says, “you content, all the rest I let slide.”
Today he hit upon the idea of suggesting to Schott six overtures, which he intends to write starting next year, against an advance of 10,000 florins. Once before he promised me to write these overtures, “Lohengrin's Ocean Voyage,” “Tristan the Hero,” and “Dirge for Romeo and Juliet.” The others he does not yet know.