Tuesday, August 9:
R. had a good night and works both morning and afternoon. Herr von Weber’s accounts of Zante are occupying his mind, and he finds it a curious coincidence that, when he opens the newspaper, he sees Zante described as “the flower of the Levant.” Herr v. Stein gives me and the children an introductory talk on Schopenhauer’s theory of art, and we tell R. about it at lunch. Stormy weather keeps us indoors.
Dr. Strecker writes to R., regretting that he is not able to oblige him as they would like. R. starts a reply which is so humorous that he laughs as he tells me about it, and in the evening we read the whole correspondence to our friends. Then R. sings the scene between Evchen and Sachs, and afterward complains good-humoredly to me that it has not been sufficiently recognized. When I tease him about that, he says, completely in earnest, that he is really glad, when he looks at something of his own after a period of time, to find it good; for during his work on it, even now on Parsifal, he gets the feeling that it is all bad.