Sunday, February 10:
R. tells me he is now clear about his prelude. At lunch he again talks about the G Minor Symphony with the utmost admiration. He goes out, but only for a short while and with slow steps, on account of his poor foot.
In the evening W. Scott; also Haydn's Military Symphony, "All our music is based on these works." Report of a defensive and offensive alliance between Russia and Turkey; unexpected and perhaps wise, but how must the people, who shed their blood, feel about it? How can heroism continue to live in a nation when its people are forced to see everything, however tragical, as a comedy? . . .