Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of November 6, 1874

Overview

She spends the day in practical labor with the children and domestic work, while also trying to keep Richard steady in the face of financial caution and political pamphlets. A small domestic anecdote about a rescued hen and a child’s improvised song briefly lightens the mood before the evening’s tiredness sets in.

Content

Friday, November 6:

In the morning a discussion with R., who is quite unwilling to admit the need for caution in regard to our finances. In the morning I worked a lot with Loldi, and finished a pair of leggings at the same time. In the afternoon German history and geography with Lusch; in the evening I read C. Frantz’s pamphlet to the end to R.

To bed a bit tired. R. goes downstairs again at 11 o’clock to alter a passage in his score.

We are little edified by C. Frantz’s pamphlet; he has no feeling for the magnificence of Bismarck’s personality, and that is bad. (Loldi yesterday rescued a hen which had fallen into the water, and Fidi sang to it a song of his own making: “It is not so easy to die.”)