Saturday, December 17:
Beethoven Day! How to celebrate this unique occasion? R. admits that in order to give me pleasure he would have liked to conduct a symphony in Zurich today; we discuss how to make up for this. The news from France fills us with mourning; it is being said quite definitely that even the fall of Paris will not mean the end of the war.
Betz returns Die Kapitulation; the theaters are frightened of the production costs. R. is basically glad, for the situation in Paris has changed, the mood is no longer the same; it is a decree of Fate. “To stretch out a hand to the outside world is a dead loss; to withdraw it and fold one’s arms is wisdom and peace.” Fidi is Tribschen’s Gambetta—howling! (says R.). He sees a creature like Gambetta as “in a fever of agitation, with a rose in his buttonhole.”
Unpleasant experience with a dealer in art books from Berlin who has sent me disgraceful Christmas wrappers. The bookbinder’s assistant tells R. that he has read Beethoven and finds it very good, whereupon R.: “It is not very easy to read.” “No, one has to give it some thought, but all the same I read it and find it very good.” R. works on Siegfried. (Letter to Dr. Heigel.) In the evening read Gibbon. (R. not well.)