Wednesday, August 7:
R. had a good night's rest and does some work; I busy with the children, correspondence with Hans concerning Daniella, and household books!
At lunch and during the afternoon, reminiscences of the festival performances, how fantastic it all appeared from the outside, the moments that turned out well, the frustrations (Richter's tempi). "As far as honor and glory were concerned, it was incredible," R. says, "and people must think me mad for not being satisfied with it."
He also tells Kl. about his "Never again" when, in the concluding scene, after Siegfried's body had been removed, he saw that yet again Richter had not understood him. We also talked about Hans and his sad experiences in America; concern that he might again be overworking. Having now finished the story of Joan of Arc, R. lays the Ducs de Bourgogne aside.
In the evening a conversation about the death penalty, R. explains his views on this to Kl. - the false humanitarianism, the way of covering things up, which is the result of the community's bad conscience. Then music, a ballad by Chopin and Beethoven's E Major Sonata. R. says laughingly today, "I am a mixture between Hamlet and Don Quixote."