Sunday, October 12:
Not a very good night, and the sore on his tongue still causing difficulties, but we think gaily of the 10th and the half-spoiled celebration. R. already said to me on Friday, "I am like some sort of beetle," and today he remarks with a laugh, "You used me to make things easy for yourself!"
He then tells me that, when he holds the cup in his hand, he is always reminded of something in his childhood (from about the age of 5); he had been on the Brühl terrace, going down the steps, when a sudden gust of wind from the river Elbe stirred up a swirling cloud of dust, and in the midst of this turmoil the church bells had begun to ring; he had seen right down the mouth of one of them, for the alcove in which they were swaying was open, and he had felt such terror that he had burst out crying - nothing on earth would have persuaded him to cross the square!
Lusch's birthday - our friends, the W.'s, with us; the Senta theme. Much affection and gaiety! Later, R. somewhat out of humor; but in the evening he appears in his new velvet jacket and long waistcoat as "Louis XIV," and again expresses his disgust with present-day fashions.
Whist in the evening, and at the same time some talk about vivisection, for Herr v. Weber has written to him; then the Jewish question is discussed once more.
While R. is playing the "Spinning Chorus" after lunch, he says, "Meudon and Bellevue inspired that, in somewhat the same way as the Quai Voltaire inspired Die Meistersinger - and our dear Emperor thought I must have been very much in love to write Tristan und Isolde." He then tells us how Reissiger tried to find inspiration for composition by making a trip to Vienna.