Wednesday, March 29:
A good night for R.; he has a bath, which does him good. We talk about the strange conditions in Sicily, in which only 7% of the population can read and write, about Catholicism; and R. says a monastery such as Einsiedeln (where Abbé Jecker's brother is musical conductor) is a most curious phenomenon in our present age, having nothing to do with the modern Jewish framework, but for him it is the most alien of all.
He reads the conclusion of Henry VIII and the exposition of A Midsummer Night's Dream and says: “With Shakespeare one has only to think that something is unimportant, like the lovers here, to find oneself in trouble at once. I find there all my thoughts about love; indeed, I now find all my thoughts about everything in him.” At lunch he explains Schopenhauer's interpretation of ghostly apparitions to our friend Gravina, jokes about the bridal couple - “Two sheep, one black and one white” - relates to Loulou over coffee some episodes from his biography, life in Zurich, and in between jokes frequently about my silent fainting fit yesterday.
He also says he would like to play Henry VIII and Prospero. The newspaper sent to us with the excerpt from Frau Dietz brings back old memories! “Use your head,” etc. Then he reads to me the splendid scene between the lovers: “That is what I always say: the main thing is to remain faithful.” Apart from this, he regrets all the academizing in A Midsummer Night's Dream - Cynthia, etc.
In the evening we play whist, and after that he plays the beginning of the Album-Sonate, which the children have brought with them.