Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of February 10, 1875

Overview

I shop for Eva’s birthday while Richard remains buried in business matters and impatient for the day when he can return to Parsifal. We explain Ash Wednesday to the children, then spend the evening in a small gathering that includes Beethoven, thoughts on apparitions and Schopenhauer, and another hard moment when Richard, hurt by my father’s absence in Vienna, wonders whether Pest should be abandoned altogether.

Content

Wednesday, February 10:

Purchases for Eva’s birthday, R. occupied with business affairs: 'I wish all this nonsense were over, so that I could get down to Parsifal,' he says.

Explained the meaning of Ash Wednesday to the children.

In the evening, a small gathering, Beethoven’s variations on his Eroica theme do not appeal to us very much, because those in the Symphony itself are too powerfully impressed on our minds.

Conversation on apparitions, discussed the case of Charles XI of Sweden.

Interpretation of Schopenhauer, his profundity ever more; since he does the copying here without any pay, R. offered him an honorarium so that he could go with us to Vienna, but he refused in some embarrassment, saying he would be able to accompany us without it.

R. very reluctant to go to Pest, he is very hurt by my father’s nonparticipation in Vienna, is thinking of giving Pest up.