Saturday, January 25:
The two military bands combine to serenade R.; they play the Tannhäuser March, the Egmont Overture, and the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin. I pack again, and around 11 o’clock we leave Hamburg, accompanied by a hearty cheer, for which the excellent Baumeister gives the lead with great emotion.
Fine weather. We decide, instead of going directly to Schwerin, to have a look at Lübeck. Memories flood into R.’s mind as he sets foot in this remarkable town. Minna’s wickedness, and the ease with which he forgave her: that is how it always was with him, he says, since basically his heart was never affected. We visit the churches; in one of them there is a picture by Memling which moves us unutterably. The four saints reduce us to tears, particularly the one in a black cloak, touching the roe-deer with absent-minded benevolence, the utter embodiment of Christianity.
We arrive in Schwerin very tired, but we visit the Italian opera and see the last act of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Once more we are struck by the tremendous talent of the Italians: diction, facial expression, gesture, all excellent; it reminds us of Gozzi’s masks. We watch the performance from the box of Herr von Wolzogen, a former enemy who now behaves in a very friendly manner. Back at the hotel we hear a murmuring in the street. I assure R. that the landed gentry has just been summoned to Schwerin for a masquerade. He laughs, and from the window shows me the familiar lanterns and the ring of people, and right away the Tannhäuser March begins, then the Kaiser-marsch and the Kient^i Overture, played by the military band, and indeed very nicely and in front of virtually the whole population of Schwerin. This surprise makes us laugh a lot. We put up at Stern’s Hotel.