Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of January 26, 1870

Overview

A gentle morning at breakfast gives way to ordinary work, childcare, and social visiting, but outside pressures remain unresolved. A warm letter from Marbach praises Die Meistersinger and anticipates the Nibelungen with visionary enthusiasm. Yet the impending Walkuere performance and Cosima’s delayed divorce overshadow the day, while Schopenhauer offers evening refuge and a lens for judging lesser writers.

Content

Wednesday, January 26:

Amicable morning mood, we have breakfast in my bedroom. Afterward R. works, I as usual with the children. In the afternoon with Lusch to Countess Bassenheim’s. A letter to R. from Prof. Marbach, who, delighted with Die Meistersinger, says that to hear the Nibelungen will be for him like the first sight of an alpenglow.

The Walküre performance casts its long and gloomy shadow over our lives. R. is also concerned that my divorce is dragging on so. In the evening passages from Schopenhauer on books and reading (in connection with Gervinus!).