Diary Entry of May 2, 1870
The day is stripped down to work: lessons and household rhythms for Cosima, composition for Wagner, and a reply to Constantin Frantz. Wagner compares the fashion for isolated operatic excerpts to the equally distorting habit of extracting quotations from tragedies. With little arriving from outside beyond newspapers and money, the children’s dances and fairy tales provide the day’s livelier texture.
Monday, May 2:
Children’s work. R.’s work. Then he replies to C. Frantz and compares the mania for detached pieces from opera with the mania for quotations from the tragedies. Nothing from outside, only newspapers and money from Berlin. Children’s dances and fairy tales.