Tuesday, February 23:
R. has got me to copy out H. Franck’s essay on Tannhäuser, written in ’45, about 12 days after the first performance. It is excellent, indeed probably the most significant thing that has yet been written about Tannhäuser. R. talks much about a Kasperl which he had in mind to write and compose. The main characters are Kasperl and Wagner, Faust in the background.
During the night I thought it would perhaps be better and more salutary for both myself and others if I were a little cruel. I lack too much the power of causing trouble, and so I consume myself.
Around noon R. brings me the manuscript of the two acts of Siegfried. Indescribable joy! As I thank him, he says, “Everything belongs to you, even before I do it.”
But at lunch he is despondent, indeed ill-humored; I had given him Claire’s letter to read, and this had a bad effect on him. But he was soon cheerful again. After lunch with the children in the garden. In the evening R. writes letters and I arrange papers and fill in an address book. After tea, Twelfth Night. Very gay mood.