Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of January 11, 1870

Overview

The household is still sick, and Richard works despite feeling unwell himself. His insistence that a work cannot be produced without Cosima moves her deeply, though he treats the sentiment as natural. The day ranges from amusement over church politics and aesthetic judgments about the violin to emotionally charged reading of Geyer’s letters and memories of Richard’s childhood sensitivity.

Content

Tuesday, January 11:

All five unwell today, coughs, colds, etc., great concern. R. also unwell, forces himself to work. When he again says that he finds it unthinkable to produce a work without my being there, I kiss his hand in deep emotion, upon which he laughs and says, "Now one gets praised for a law of Nature."

Bishop Strossmayer's opposition to the Jesuits at the fifth meeting of the Council causes us much amusement. After lunch discussed the violin as a solo instrument, unmanly, ridiculous. I write to Claire and to Krausse, the painter. Some words concerning a Calderon quotation omitted.

In the evening read with R. the letters of his stepfather, Geyer, very moved by them. R. says, "He sacrificed himself for us." Early today, when Loldi went to R., he asked her why she was crying. "I'm not crying, tears are just coming!" R. tells me that as a child he was nicknamed Amtmann Böhrei, because he was so sensitive. R. has written to the King and made suggestions to him.