Thursday, March 3:
Splendid weather, games with the children in the garden. R. is working. In the hermitage I discuss some matters from the past with Heinrich Porges. He makes me very happy by telling me that he has never seen R. so tranquil and so lively as he is now; he is convinced that R. would never have taken up his Nibelungen again if this great change in his life had not occurred. This affects me so much that I have to weep.
When I tell this to R.: “Nothing, not a single new note would I ever have produced if I had not found you. Now I have a life to live.”
At lunch we discuss the curious distinction between Austrian pronunciation and that of the rest of the Germans, also how they pronounce Greek words, such as Zeus, Ze-us. R. attributes this to the fact that the schools were handed over to the Jesuits, who came from Italy and superimposed their Italian pronunciation on German. The Viennese pronunciation is not a dialect, but a foreign accent.
In the afternoon a big outing to Stanzstad, all in fine spirits. In the evening R. plays Beethoven’s A Major Symphony (as a piano duet with P.). He sends a telegram to Herbeck, calling on him to improve the production.