Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of March 17, 1870

Overview

Wagner continues working in reasonable health while Cosima handles the awkward problem of an unauthorized song dedication. Their return to Hamlet keeps Shakespeare at the center of the evening. A missionary account from Siam impresses Cosima through the dignity of the Buddhist minister and leads Wagner into a critique of Christianity as distorted by its Jewish inheritance.

Content

Thursday, March 17:

R. is still working and is tolerably well. From the outside world only the very distasteful matter of the dedication of the three songs; I write on R.’s behalf to the lady and beg her to tell the publisher she does not wish for this imposed dedication. The publisher did it “in the interests of the works,” as he expresses it. In the evening read Hamlet again from the beginning. Much impressed by a missionary’s account of his efforts to convert a Buddhist minister in Siam. The Buddhist emerges as a most noble figure. R. deplores the fact that the Jewish religion has been grafted on to Christianity and has completely spoiled it.