Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of September 9, 1869

Overview

A botanical walk and score inking beside Siegfried's cradle give Cosima two versions of the child before her: living infant and musical namesake. She and Richard talk in the garden about what to wish for him, while letters report Rheingold's postponement and Marie Muchanoff's impending visit. Richard returns cheerful because Cosima is at home, while Napoleon III's illness suggests broader political decline.

Content

Thursday, September 9:

Botanical walk, then inked in score beside the cradle, Siegfried in two versions before me. After lunch in the garden with R. and "Fidi" [Siegfried]; talked and talked about the child. What should we wish for him: earnestness, cheerfulness, a poetic spirit? R. tells me much about Bernhard von Weimar's heroism.

Letter to R. from Judith: Rheingold postponed, may later be performed for the King alone. Went for a drive with the children, encountered Countess Bassenheim at the railroad station, waiting in vain for Marie M. In the end a letter from Marie saying she is coming tomorrow to discuss important matters with me. Stupid, tiresome interference!

Fine evening. R. comes home cheerful; he says he always returns happy and gay now that he knows I am in the house. Emperor Louis Napoleon appears to be very ill; R. thinks he is on his deathbed.