Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of August 27, 1881

Overview

The first rehearsal pairing Kundry and Parsifal showcases Richard's brilliant interpretive gifts and his precise physical and psychological direction of his characters, though he holds little hope that the singers will fully absorb his vision. Lunch with the assembled company is cheerful despite overcast weather, and the evening takes an unexpectedly comic turn when Richard spontaneously produces the Otello piano score and sings the first-act trio with Seidl and Brandt to hilarious effect. Beneath the gaiety, unease about the Parsifal production lingers.

Content

Saturday, August 27:

First rehearsal between Kundry and Parsifal! R. is divine in all his instructions, in his identification with and clear understanding of his characters, down to their slightest movement. But unfortunately there is little hope that he will be followed.

Lunch with the entire small company; the weather is overcast, but R. is in good spirits. In the evening he brings out on the spur of the moment the piano score of Otello, and with Seidl and Marianne Brandt he sings the trio from the first act with unbelievably comic effect. Because of this the evening takes on a very gay color, but our feelings with regard to the production of Parsifal are subdued. He sends off his letters to the other artists.

[Entered on the following page but referred back to this point: “At supper Herr Wink tells us that he spoke to the Duke of Brunswick, and that he affects a broken German, somewhat like the Hungarians; also all his servants are French!”]