Thursday, April 14:
Working and lunch with the children. Discussion of the letter received yesterday from Const[antin] Frantz concerning Die Meistersinger in Berlin, for which R. had given him a ticket. This letter is anything but pleasing, he thinks it a pity there is so little for the barrel organ in it! Yet I am glad that it came, since he informs me that Daniel’s grave is being cared for. To town with R. to fetch Easter eggs. Letter from Prof. N., who reports that Doris B[rockhaus]’s fiancé killed himself. When I arrive home, R. says to me, “If you only knew what I thought, when you came bowling home: ‘Here comes the only person in the world who means anything to you.’ ” I read something on his desk and he says, “As long as I can see your dear face, I shall not die.” In the evening finished Oedipus; tremendous impression, and R. remarks: “A special feature of the Greeks, which I believe is not to be found among us, is the sanctity and divinity of the curse-laden individual who is being punished in behalf of a whole generation. Oedipus is quite godlike in his harshness against Polynices, it could be Zeus himself speaking, which is why, when he lays aside his last mortal frailty, he is at once summoned to the gods. That appears to us harsh, for we do not share the religious feelings of the Greeks.”
In the morning I say I should be glad to hear old Italian church music as before: “That will be done in our school in Bayreuth.” “But in this school,” I say, “the piano must not be taught, the students must be able to play the piano only well enough to become good musicians, but they will get no training in it in our school, otherwise virtuosity will stifle everything.” “You are right,” says R., “but how bold you are!”