Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of September 8, 1881

Overview

A crowded morning of unwanted visitors gives way to a frank exchange with Elsa Uhlig about the sale of letters and a tense but ultimately productive negotiation with publisher Dr. Strecker over the terms for Parsifal. An afternoon excursion retraces Wagner's early creative geography: the courtyard at Pillnitz where he once played for royalty, and the modest village of Gross-Graupen where Lohengrin first took shape. The evening ends on a generous note as Wagner, struck by a sense of fairness, privately regrets having pushed for an extra fifteen thousand marks.

Content

Thursday, September 8:

Yesterday R. invited several people to a late breakfast; they now arrive and disturb him greatly. He speaks frankly to Elsa Uhlig about the sale of the letters. Dr. Strecker, who had sought him in vain in Bayreuth, also turns up, but when the conductor Willner finally arrives, he sends him off to find me in the gallery.

I drive with R. to Jenkins’s, where he always makes all kinds of jokes. At 2 o’clock we have lunch on the terrace with Dr. Strecker, to whom R. says, “My dentist has advised me to demand a lot of money from the house of Schott for Parsifal.” After arranging with Dr. S. to have another conference with him in the evening, we drive out to Pillnitz. R. shows me the courtyard in which he performed the music for the returning King; he also shows me where Baron von Lüttichau sat. A gentleman unknown to us, Councilor Braun, who saw us waiting for the guide, took us in, but since a swarm of other people followed us, we soon took our leave. We then drive to Gross-Graupen, where Lohengrin was first sketched. From such a cramped and indigent place did this world of brilliance and beauty shine forth! R. shows us the paths he often walked, and we come to the romantic Lochner mill, where we stop for refreshments. In darkness, late in the evening, we return home.

Dr. Strecker arrives. To begin with, R. speaks to him very severely for having imagined that he had him in his power, having published the text; then, when Dr. Strecker apologizes, R. accepts his explanation that, in spite of their great success, his works are still not a good business proposition, and the terms of the contract are agreed upon. R. trusts this man, who behaves with great propriety, and he reduces some of his demands.

A curious and frequently recurring characteristic of R.’s is the way in which, at the end, he asks after Dr. Strecker’s fiancée, and the latter, surprised, indeed almost disconcerted, announces that he became engaged about a week ago. And so great is R.’s sense of justice that, when we are alone, he regrets having made an additional demand for 15,000 marks. [Added fifteen pages later but referred back to this point: “At tea in the evening, R. talks about Der fliegende Holländer and says how sad he was to note so much in it that is just noise or repetition, that is to say, so many things that spoil the work.”]