Monday, January 10:
"I am going to write a new work," R. exclaims to me. "It begins with the second act of Tristan and ends with Hans Sachs's wedding." Letter from the King, still in the same old style. R. thinks he can use it as a pretext to beg him on no account to produce Die Walküre without R.'s aid, and he will suggest producing this as well as Das Rheingold for him. When I tell him I would not be able to attend the performances, he says: Then on no account.
I then go to the children, all four of whom are unwell! I read to them and play with them. R. works and is in cheerful mood, then ruins both his mood and his state of health with a walk. He says it feels quite stuffy out of doors, like a peasant's living room, the air is so thick.
In the evening finished the Vita nuova. Sketched poem for the 7th.