Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of August 2, 1874

Overview

Illness shadows the house, with Richard laid low by a cold and singing strain, while the writer narrating the diary is shaken by a child’s possible sickness and by the fragility of their guests. Amid these anxieties, she also visits the hoarse Frau Materna and thinks sorrowfully about the wounds and losses that seem to define life.

Content

Sunday, August 2:

R. is very unwell; he seems to have caught cold yesterday, and singing is always a great strain on him.

I alone accompany our friends to the railroad station; I am glad of Standhartner's love for Richard and his delight in what he calls R.'s good fortune. Comfortingly, he finds him more cheerful than previously.

But in what state do we leave our friends? In these last two years he has lost one son and is returning to the other, who is wasting away... Oh, life! We drape our wounds with rags.

Last night I heard Fidi sobbing; I went to him. He complained that his throat was sore. In alarm I sent for Standhartner; it turned out to be nothing, but the shock, the alarm! R. spends the day in bed.

I visit Frau Materna, who is herself hoarse. Visit from Feustel's son-in-law; it is to be hoped that the publisher Fritzsch can be helped.