Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of September 11, 1881

Overview

After a poor night's rest, Wagner rallies for a late breakfast with London acquaintances the Schlesingers, finding the wife particularly agreeable. The evening brings genuine delight as Der Freischütz works on the audience like a breath of forest air, though Wagner is struck by how thoroughly the traditional staging conventions have been lost on the performers. At the final curtain an admiring young woman works up the courage to approach him and express her gratitude.

Content

Sunday, September 11:

R. did not have a good night; he rests in the morning, Fidi goes to church, and then we all drive together via the pastry shop to Jenkins’s. From there to a late breakfast with our friends of London memory, the Schlesingers. A gay meeting, for R. finds the pretty wife very pleasant.

In the evening Der Freischütz, a joy, a solace, fragrant as a forest. But one thing greatly astonishes R.: that the traditional manner of performing these works has been forgotten to such an extent that Ännchen did not even know the characteristic movements, with her apron, to the accompaniment of the clarinet. R. draws my attention to the use of the bass register of the oboe, also of the flute - all Weber’s own inventions. At the conclusion of the opera he is approached shyly, but enthusiastically, by Frl. von Zettwitz, who says she could not miss the opportunity of thanking him.