Category: #countdown1876

Letter from Herr Hoffmann, who wants very much to talk to R.; we decide to invite him and his wife in the evening. R. is at first very agitated, but then calms down, it is agreed to have the maquettes sent back here from Coburg. —  The advertised Poets’ Congress…

R. works (after a bad night—“The whole of Nature is fizzing like bicarbonate of soda,” he calls out jokingly during the night storm). I work with the children morning and afternoon. In the evening we begin [Calderon’s] La niña de Gomez Arias. I am very tired.

Very bad night, during which I drafted amid tears an invocation to music for Marie Muchanoff. Bath with Lusch, work with the children, and after that wrote seven or eight letters. In the evening read “The Witch”[i] by Greene, without pleasure—a genius has no predecessors. (Before that attended a coffee party…

Isolde surprised us yesterday with a complete historical lecture, which Fidi brought to an end (it was about the quarrel between Louis the Pious and his sons) with the remark, “They squabbled as in a chicken coop.” Farewell visit from our friendly sponsors, who were extremely kind to the children….

Early in the morning to our friend, who then goes to fetch her husband[i] in Neumarkt. Spent the whole afternoon very pleasantly together; the minister, just come from the confirmation of the Crown Prince’s son, tells us of the Prince’s admirable profession of faith. But he confirms that the Prince’s left…

The whole day, from morning to evening,  devoted to our friend [Marie Schleinitz]. In the morning I was alarmed by a sudden red flush on Fidi’s skin, but to our great joy it turns out to be nothing.  We take our friend, who is extraordinarily pretty and interesting in her appearance,…