Tuesday, February 3:
R. slept well, and his eye is somewhat better; indeed, he goes out on the terrace and delights in all the beauty. Still many thoughts about America; he asks friend Stein to bring him a map of North America, proclaims his intention of writing to Dr. Jenkins, and says, “Yes, they will outstrip us, and we professors will be left behind with our polyphonic spectacles.” “We are a sinking crew.”
Visit from Princess Ouroussoff with Countess Schulenburg and Count Arnim; on account of the latter I call R. to join us. He finds this sorely tested man pleasant and touching in his sickness and melancholy.
In the evening R. plays the Andante from the C Minor Symphony and the “Spring Song” from Die Walküre, both wonderfully beautiful. And in the evening, when I talk to him about it, he says, “I always maintain that we, Beethoven and I, are the twin melodists, we both have the grand line.”