Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of May 17, 1878

Overview

Illness keeps the narrator confined while Wagner works and reads aloud to her. A friend’s letter and a comment about having reworked an entire passage suggest steady creative activity, and the evening is devoted to continuing their reading of Renan.

Content

Friday, May 17:

My voice still gone. R. reads to me a nice letter from his friend Sulzer, with which is enclosed a curious poem. R. works; I spend the day in my room; R. tells me he has recomposed a whole passage.

In the evening he reads Renan’s Saint Paul to me; he now wants to read the complete series of these books. I recommend them all except for The Life of Jesus; his talent is insufficient for the Saviour.