Wednesday, March 1:
Fine letter from our friend Nuitter, who takes a stand high above it all; the good Pasdeloup, however, is professing to hate the Germans, and he will not perform any of their works. "Cela se calmera," Nuitter observes. In the Grand Opera fragments from Tannhäuser have been performed, always with great success, in spite of newspaper protests.
I feel that Pasdeloup would also be quite sensible if he did not have to appear before the public, something which turns every Frenchman into an actor; to win applause he must hate the Germans, etc. The members of the National Assembly certainly also express themselves in public in a way quite different from in private.
R. says how important and fruitful it has been to read Gibbon, since it has shown him that the idea of the Roman Empire still lives on as the wisest form of government, and it is only a matter of who puts it into practice.
Yesterday R. gave Richter a severe reprimand in connection with the Jubelouverture, which Richter had referred to in a dismissive manner. R. demonstrated to him how solemn and festive, in a popular way, the Overture is, a beloved king being received by his people: it is, as it were, an idealized round dance. In such a piece there could be no musical bones for musicians to gnaw on; it must be popular to the highest degree.
To me R. intimated that a musician is guided by an idea, an image, that he designs his music in accordance with that, but it should never and must never be explained in pictorial terms. Richter was ashamed, and in fun we greeted him with the main melody of the Overture.
Letter from my mother, incorrigible as ever, still abusing the Germans! In the evening, Carlyle.