Friday, February 5:
Visited the sick; R. has business letters to attend to, among them one to that strange woman [Marianne] Brandt, who wants to sing Fricka and not Waltraute.
At two o’clock Richter with his wife; he still the magnificent creature of old, she to my mind strange, a decidedly Jewish type; the children help us over our awkwardness.
There are business decisions to be made; the news generally unfavorable; my father’s composition will involve great expense and attract nobody to the concert; the proceeds in Pest will be less than once hoped; in Vienna the intrigues are starting; a new opera being prepared for production will make rehearsals difficult; and various other things of this sort!
When I reflect that the concerts are only a dismal sign of the way things are going, and when I now see that even they are beset with difficulties, I feel my heart will break; on top of all this the abortive Siegfried, the troubles which only increase the nearer we come to our goal, and R.’s age, it is as much as I can do to bear the burden on my heart.