Thursday, July 8:
Preparations for the children’s arrival, and rehearsals, between times letters; I to Dr. Standhartner, asking him to visit Hans and give me a report on his condition.
The heaviness of my heart I can describe to nobody; I wish my children were big enough for me to hand everything over to them, all possessions, and go into service! A time of cloudbursts, the heavens empty themselves upon us.
In the evening, rehearsal; when a violent thundershower threatens, the whole company disappears, we are lightheartedly astonished to find ourselves once again alone in the salon. R. reads me the strangely sagacious letter which Herr Brahms has written him, thanking him for sending Das Rheingold.