Sunday, January 26:
R. is summoned to the Grand Duke at 12 o’clock; he returns from the audience well satisfied. The Prince has pleasant memories of Bayreuth, and Richard was able to tell him that he is also remembered with gratitude for his humanity during the evil times of ’66. The Duke takes up 6 certificates of patronage.
I write home and receive by cable good news of the children. At 6 o’clock there is a performance of Der fliegende Holländer; after the overture the conductor, Herr Schmitt, calls for a cheer and flourish for the “writer and composer, who is present.” In the first act the singer Hill at once makes a tremendous impression on us, and R. sees in him the kind of singer he needs. We are deeply moved by his performance.
When R. was recalling Minna’s bad behavior in Lübeck, I said to him, “If only I had always been with you!” I could imagine how happy the composition of the Holländer would have made me, how the recognition and knowledge of his greatness would have sustained me through all difficulties! Between the second and third acts we are both summoned to the Grand Duke’s box; the two royal ladies converse with R., the Grand Duke with me: very friendly and good. After the performance there is a banquet with about 160 people; Herr von Wolzogen takes me in and is my neighbor. In the first speech, R.’s loyalty to art is compared with Senta’s loyalty.