Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of April 14, 1877

Overview

The children’s lessons are followed by a deeply affecting reading of a new section of the work, which is treated as something private and protected. Later they turn to Goethe and enjoy the play despite finding its ending too theatrical.

Content

Saturday, April 14:

Lessons for the children, who afterward rub out the traces of pencil in the manuscript.

In the afternoon R. reads me the third act, and when he sees how profoundly affected I am by it, he says, "This is our secret, from me to you; do not ask me to read it to anyone else."

In the evening we take up Goethe's Jery und Bätely, which R. tells me made a very lively impression on him when he saw it on the stage during his childhood. We enjoy it very much, except for the operatic conclusion; I observe that one ought to turn all the verses back into prose.