Thursday, July 1:
Help, Heavens, the heavy heart to bear - first rehearsal, at the first note my heart feels on the point of bursting! While Herr Hill was having supper with us yesterday evening, R. spoke of the orchestral cothurnus on which his singers were standing.
This evening Frau Grün and her husband, who, coming from St. Petersburg, tells us the strangest stories; he says Herr Bilse is keeping people who might have become patrons from doing so by spreading rumors that, because of quarrels with the orchestra players, the performances will not take place!
The newspapers are reporting that R. has gone to Homburg for a cure, in order to mislead the singers who are expected here for rehearsals, and it is true that some very important members (Niemann, Betz, Materna) are still missing.
Spent the evening in the garden with the company; the machinist Brandt comes, too, telling us that today he had been on the point of leaving with all his people, since the idleness of the local workers is forcing them to remain inactive! The study here starts excellently.