Tuesday, June 6:
Fidi is 7 years old; R. surprises me with the Idyll, brings Fidi to my bed while I am still asleep, and then I hear it being played. At the conclusion, Fidi is introduced to the players in the gallery; they cheer him, and he thanks them! A stork is flying around the house - good omen.
In the evening R. has a rehearsal (positioning, 2nd scene of Rheingold); the ballet master Fricke is said to have achieved wonders, with local athletes as Nibelung dwarfs. But R. is terribly worn out and annoyed by how behindhand many things are, above all the decorations of the Bruckner brothers, who in the meantime have painted 14 decorations for the Duke of Meiningen.