Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of May 7, 1875

Overview

The morning is taken up with errands and visits from Princess Hohenlohe and Countess Andrassy, followed by a call on Makart while R. looks at dogs. They leave at ten in the evening, and a later note adds a moving episode: R. once heard blind street musicians play Beethoven so beautifully that he was brought to tears.

Content

Friday, May 7:

Shopping in the morning; at one o’clock, a visit from Princess Hohenlohe and Countess Andrassy, both pleasant and friendly. Then to Makart; R. looking at dogs.

Departure at 10 in the evening, sleeping car.

[Added later in the margin:] On the 7th R. encountered a group of poor blind musicians in a courtyard; they were playing the Andante from Beethoven’s Second Symphony so wonderfully that he could not tear himself away from them, and he told me about it with tears in his eyes.

In such ways does one really feel the power of music! The violinist’s playing, he says, was as pure as gold!