Tuesday, May 12:
Richter Day — that is to say, the day on which we expected Richter, but he does not come, delayed in Pest by the presence of the Emperor. Bad weather still and, on top of that, my indisposition, which makes me completely useless. R. cannot return to his work yet, for there is too much disturbance in the house with all the arranging. The marble statuettes are set up. “And marble statues stand and gaze on me!”
In the evening I pick up Der Ring des Nibelungen and am filled with admiration for the beauty of the rhymes and the way in which the sense of the words is revealed to us through them.