Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of September 3, 1881

Overview

Rain and gray skies accompany a day of back pain for Richard, who nonetheless persists with both his article and his score, spending the day haunted by the sounds of the mourning music that will accompany Parsifal's second entry into the Temple. He takes a solitary walk in the palace gardens and pays a neighborly visit, finding some relief in simple activity. The evening's conversation centers on aesthetic philosophy, with Richard contrasting the austere nobility of Greek costume and architecture against the overwhelming luxury of ancient Eastern civilizations.

Content

Saturday, September 3:

A dull day, rain, gray skies; R. has a backache. He works on his article and also on his score. All day long, he tells me, the sounds of the mourning music, Herzeleide, which accompanies Parsifal on his second entrance into the Temple, have been going through his mind.

We play whist in the evening. R. went for a walk in the palace gardens by himself and then visits our neighbor Frau v. Scholer, in whose house we meet. In the evening the conversation turns to costumes, and R. says, “What makes the Greeks so noble is their simplicity, suddenly, amid all this Assyrian and Persian luxury, the divine simplicity of their costumes and their buildings!”