Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of July 4, 1874

Overview

Domestic tasks, accounts, and the heat make the day feel heavy, though the evening softens into music and shared listening with the musicians. R. leans into nostalgic remarks about old loves and forgotten tenderness, giving the whole day a reflective, slightly melancholy tone.

Content

Saturday, July 4:

R. still occupied with his library, I have all sorts of things to do in the house and with Lusch. In the afternoon looking over the accounts, always a worry to me.

In the evening the musicians, we settle ourselves on the stairs. 'The Decameron,' R. says to me, and adds, 'I am sorry I cannot provide you with a better Decameron.'

Tropical heat. R. plays us the romance from Isouard's Joconde: 'But always one returns to one's first loves.' 'Yes,' he says, 'many tender things have been said on this earth and forgotten.'