Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of June 9, 1875

Overview

The heat was oppressive, R. still not well, and he gave up the medicinal waters altogether. The practical worries were no less draining: patrons were not multiplying, demands kept rising, and absurd requests kept arriving, from Materna’s fee demands to questions about whether Telramund is truly wicked or merely tempted into wickedness; by evening, after all that folly, we resolved on a drive to Alexandersbad.

Content

Wednesday, June 9:

Great heat. R. not very well, gives up his treatment of medicinal waters. No encouraging news from anywhere; the number of patrons does not increase, but demands are growing higher, as, for example, Frau Materna asking for 30 florins a day.

Much nonsense meanwhile: visit from the bank director Dosterling, author of Galilei, an opera in three acts; letter from a Countess Fürstenstein, wishing to be told whether Telramund is wicked or only seduced into wickedness; a man from Saxony asking for pieces from the most recent composition, since he so much likes the “Evening Star” in Tannhäuser! We decide on a drive to Alexandersbad.