Saturday, August 19:
R. had a good night’s rest. With us we have young Fritz Brandt, who has turned out excellently, also Malw. and Stein. In the morning I had an interview with friend Glasenapp about the review of the performances, since our good friends have strayed far from R.’s intentions in their somewhat overhasty judgments. In the afternoon we experience all sorts of difficulties with regard to the wedding. I propose to R. an outing to the Fantaisie; but when he learns something of these difficulties, he insists on turning back halfway to visit the mayor. The Catholic parish priest happens to be standing in front of the town hall, R. promises to restrain himself (we have heard that the priest, angry that Blandine is not being converted, has written to Palermo saying that she will be no asset to the Catholic Church; he also added that she is a baptized Protestant, and the parish priest cannot publish the banns of a mixed marriage without a dispensation, which in Italy can be given only by the Pope, not the archbishop). When we declare that we intend to wait quietly until all this has been cleared up, the priest says the Archbishop of Bamberg can give the dispensation! And we discover and experience many other things of a similar sort in connection with this affair. In the evening R. is extremely vexed by a report in the Köln. Zeitung about the meeting of the Wagner Societies here; it is true that there was some by no means gentle speaking. (We have signed the contract with Venice.)