Friday, March 31:
R. did not sleep very well. We give up Catania, which we meant to visit today, since the weather is not very favorable. Discussion about the engagement; letters yesterday from the Tascas raise some doubts in us. R. laughs over our amateurishness in such matters! It will be a hard task to find the right occupation for our future son-in-law; his education has not equipped him for anything! R. writes to [Amalie] Materna about the role of Kundry and tells her not to worry about the low notes, what is needed is less a voice than a good heart, and that she has shown in the second act of Die Walküre. For Klingsor, he feels, he requires more viciousness than voice.
Around 4 o'clock, after the morning walk in the garden, when the sea looks exactly like the sky, as he told me yesterday, we visit Baron Pennisi, who possesses a splendid collection of coins, which R. and I examine with interest. But in the evening R. is very tired, and he goes to bed around 9 o'clock.