Saturday, June 17:
A somewhat restless night. Severe cold, and departure of the Count, which fills us with gloomy thoughts. R. finishes copying out his fine letter to Herr Schön and brings it to me in the afternoon. At lunch our talk is mainly about the Count and his fate; but over coffee we talk about the state of the German Reich (Bismarck is reported to have declared that he is uncertain whether F. Wilh. IV had not been very wise to refuse the imperial crown). R. stresses the difference between the motives of Baron von Stein, who wished to see the German clans united in order to rescue something in the German spirit, and those of Bismarck, which reflected the arrogance of the Prussian Junker.
In the afternoon we go for a walk, and if the sky, the trees, the strolling people make us feel melancholy, the effect of the military band, playing the most vulgar of dances and marches, plunges us into utter gloom! At supper R. tells us that he has written to Dannreuther, enclosing in an envelope bearing the most detailed address just one single word, “Excellent!” After supper the distribution of the roles is discussed, and R. is firmly resolved to reject all the singers’ pretensions (about creating the roles). I read aloud his letter, which makes the impression it is bound to do. He already told us at supper that he has cut out the joke about Niemann and his beard: “I remembered you; when I made it, I was not thinking of you, and so I was rude.” He says he no longer has any desire to be witty in public. He resolves to write something about military music and send it to Fritzsch’s periodical, since he is still very well disposed toward Herr Fritzsch. He reads to us parts of Dr. Grysanowski’s article (R. Blätter), which he finds admirable (on the war), but he adds that it is quite impossible to exert an influence on anything; it is all the same whatever one writes.