Tuesday, September 6:
A good night at the Hotel Bellevue in Dresden. The children’s first walk is to the dentist’s; I leave them there and visit the gallery alone, afterward going with R. to Dr. Jenkins and then back with all of them to the gallery.
R. is pleased by some of the things I show him, including Bol’s picture of the Holy Family at rest. “A lovely picture!” he exclaims, and as we are talking about it, he says, “Perhaps going somewhat beyond art, since the subject in itself has a sentimental appeal.”
We had breakfast beforehand at the Belvedere, and R. was pleased by its lovely surroundings. While I was in the gallery by myself, R. heard the chorus rehearsing the Holländer and was annoyed by the tempi. He sends word to the chorus master, asking to have it taken a bit slower. We have lunch on the Bellevue terrace at 2 o’clock and then drive through the beautiful park to the zoological gardens, where the elephant and other animals give us pleasure, but the people and their absurd behavior with the animals very little. In the evening Der fliegende Holländer.
For me, much emotion; for R., a good impression of the singer [Therese] Malten, and he tells her so immediately afterward in her dressing room. He shows me and the children many things from his childhood years, including the old Kreuzschule. The theater, quite imposing from the outside, satisfies us very little inside.