Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of March 9, 1875

Overview

The dress rehearsal suffered from an ugly hall, poor acoustics, and too little preparation, yet my father’s performance of the Beethoven Concerto overwhelmed everything around it. The evening’s Der FI. Holländer, sung in Hungarian and Italian and altered by Richter’s additions, was a major disappointment and felt far removed from Wagner’s intent.

Content

Tuesday, March 9:

Dress rehearsal; an ugly hall, bad acoustics, insufficient preliminary rehearsals; my father absolutely overwhelms us with the way he plays the Beethoven Concerto, a tremendous impression! Magic without parallel. This is not playing, it is pure sound. R. says it annihilates everything else. We have a meal together in the Hotel Hungaria.

In the evening Der fliegende Holländer conducted by Richter; sung in Hungarian and Italian. Great disappointment! Nowhere else has so much been cut in the Holländer, and Richter has also introduced cymbals, etc. Astonishment over this Wagnerian par excellence!