Tuesday, December 22:
R. tells me how he has arranged the individual pieces from Götterdämmerung; he says: “I did it just so that you could listen to them.” But where to find a Sieglinde?
We talk about Der Ring des Nibelungen, and R. remarks how curious it was that he designed it as he did without knowing the philosophy of Schopenhauer: “If I had known it, I should have been less uninhibited in my choice of expressive means.” He says, “When I first read Schopenhauer, I did not understand him at all, because I was no longer armed with the strength with which I wrote my poem.”
R. has brought back some lovely Christmas presents for the children. He tells me that the Arnim trial has covered Bismarck with glory! He was shown to be correct in everything and emerged magnificently. Conference between Herr Feustel and the lawyer Skutsch, through which the fraudulent nature of Herr Batz stands fully revealed. Friend Feustel will now see how he can extricate R. from this connection.
In the evening R. is very tired; we converse for a while, and then I start decorating the Christmas tree with Lusch, which proves rather a strain! I have laid my hands on a Creussen apostle jug for R., with the help of the indispensable Jew Seligsberg! R. had asked for it as a present.