Monday, November 12:
I admit to R. the responsibility I took upon myself; he thanks me for it. Negotiations with Peters and Strecker regarding Parsifal and the Idyll. R. works; I am prevented by eye trouble from writing this myself.
After several days, somewhat better. R. is in good and cheerful mood, talks of our tomb, how he designed it and how mice and rats have got in: “He who digs a pit sees others fall into it.” Much laughter about this. He takes me for a little walk. In the evening friends Heckel and Fischer; at lunch we were 13 at table, an unpleasant feeling. R. writes to the firm of Gebrüder Hug for his sonata.
Tuesday, November 13:
Still troubled with my eyes. But R. works and says he does not wish to be disturbed. In the afternoon he called me into the salon in order to play me what he had just played: the beginning of Gurnemanz's narration, “In heiliger Nacht neigten sich die Boten” - it is wonderful! Shortly after this, Herr v. W[olzogen] tells me that the public prosecutor in Berlin regards it as an insult to compare Bismarck with R., since R. has the public reputation of being a megalomaniac. The constructive part is always the more difficult, for what does not happen can for that very reason not happen, and this produces a deceptive view of the prevailing factors in public affairs.