Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of March 18, 1875

Overview

She continued battling through household duties, hoping to keep Richard calm and well, while he dined out at Herr Rose’s and came home late in good spirits. Rose offered a generous toast, recounting how former mockers of Bayreuth had come around to admiring the enterprise, and Richard answered with a toast to Bayreuth itself. The evening carried a rare note of public recognition amid the private strain.

Content

Thursday, March 18:

Still immersed in housekeeping duties, I hope to arrange things so that R. will feel well and peaceful. He dines today at Herr Rose’s house, I with Elisabeth and the children. R. returns home late in the evening, very content to be back among these people. A fine toast was proposed to him by Herr Rose, who related from his own experience how people in Hamburg, etc., had previously spoken mockingly about the Bayreuth undertaking, but now admitted to having been won over by the greatness of the man. R. toasted Bayreuth.