Thursday, June 1:
R. had a good night. The latest news about the Ring cycle in London is good. Our friends the Grosses have lunch with us, and that gives rise to information of all kinds, also to many complaints about the local workers, who were to blame for the trouble in our dining room. For me today trousseau troubles, but above all concern about the Count, who really is not at all well.
A letter from Daniela about the music festival has a far from pleasant effect on R.; the fact that there is comment about the 44 violins of Tristan und Isolde, which have to be fought against, displeases him all the more since it is said in connection with the Brahms concerto, which Rub. had severely criticized in the Blätter! But our pleasure in our home outweighs all else, and even though R. says we returned two months too early, since there is nothing for him to do here, we much enjoy a drive to the Fantaisie today.
At supper he talks about the Count’s views on languages, their connection with the various races, and the worthlessness of mixed languages; and he warmly ascribes the clarity of his ideas on this subject to Gobineau. “Long life to you!” he exclaims to our tired friend.
In the evening he plays for Biagino the Parsifal Prelude, much annoyed by the piano score, and also the end of the second act of Tannhäuser.
Biagino tells me today, joking yet touched, how R. had commented on his own character, how he allowed such trifles to upset him, and how he had added, “I should have discovered Cosima fifteen years earlier.”