Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of October 7, 1881

Overview

A massage and a good start to work gave way to distress when Richard saw Marke trying to catch a tiny fish in the fountain and failed to save it. He remained physically ill and emotionally burdened for much of the day, though he still listened kindly to Stein and later found some calm after Cosima followed him from the supper table. Decisions about Daniela's accompanying Liszt were settled under pressure from outside, a result Richard accepted but resented.

Content

Friday, October 7:

R. has another massage and goes to his work in good spirits, but when he takes a walk in the garden and sees Marke catching a little fish in the fountain, he gets very upset and tries in vain to rescue the creature. At lunch afterward he is very unwell and very depressed.

All the same he talks in a friendly way with Stein about the latter’s dramatic scene, “Cornelia.” We drive along the Konnersreuth highway; he is displeased at being unable to persuade my father to stay here. And everything, every conversation, is a burden to him; he leaves the supper table. With my father’s permission I follow him, calm him down, and the day ends with an amicable game of whist.

At the request of the Princesses Hohenlohe and Wittgenstein it is decided that Daniela will accompany her grandfather. R. consents, though he is annoyed that commands should be given from outside, as he puts it.