Sunday, October 4 (4th of October 1874)

Various Hoffmann and Bruckner capers, to the great annoyance of Richard, whose work is much hindered thereby.

Visit from a cathedral organist from Augsburg, an enthusiastic Swabian with all the warmth and vitality of the South German character. In the evening the mayor, still in connection with the Hoffmann affair. — 

R. tells me that when he was drinking his beer at Angermann’s, a Jewish piano teacher tripped over Rus; when R. asked his pardon on Rus’s behalf, Karpeles replied: “Oh, for me your dogs are sacred creatures, I know about Fips and Peps.” We are astonished over these propensities of the Jews, who, like the Jesuits, can sniff out everything. — 

R. forbids our painter the word “colossal,” which he is constantly using; he tells me that in his youth he had also used such words and it was Schroder-Devrient who had drawn his attention to it, saying to him, “Don’t speak in such an affected way”—“a sign that she was interested in me,” R. adds, “and I was ashamed.” —