Wednesday, September 6:
R. had a good night’s rest. Pouring rain in the morning. He continues his letter to the King. Around lunchtime I hear him in the garden laughing out loud; it was about the noise the hens were making after they had laid their eggs. — Over coffee the subject of genius is discussed, the word itself, the difference in the way it is used in German and in French, the curious fact that the Germans use a foreign word Genie for an idea so very much their own.
In the afternoon we receive our friend Sulzer’s warm and significant article about Parsifal; I immediately read it to R., then we drive together to friend Feustel’s to settle some business matters. In the evening I read the article to Stein. Before this a telegram from Herr Voltz thoroughly annoyed R., as does everything connected with this affair. We play whist. During it R. says he misses the Flower Maidens, he had been unable to show them adequately how pleased he was with them, though at every performance he had loudly called “Bravo” above the