Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of April 6, 1877

Overview

A farewell visit from Lalas stirred memories of the Nibelungen years before the household turned to a new literary reading. Wagner was angered by a preface that seemed to draw heavily on his own ideas without acknowledging him, and the omission left him visibly vexed.

Content

Friday, April 6:

Today's stranger is our good Lalas, coming here from Salzburg to say goodbye - he is returning to Monastir. Memories of the Nibelungen days! After he has departed we start on the preface to Karl Ritter's Der milde Welf, dealing with verse meter in the German tragedy. It looks very much as if all he says in it comes from his conversations with R. and from R.'s writings, but he does not once mention him. R. very vexed by the reading.