R. had a bad night; during it he read two essays by a certain Herr Löffler on Götterdämmerung in the Fritzsch Newspaper, which are very good. — —
R. lately related at the dinner table how, in Vienna, he again encountered at dusk the poor man to whom he had so bitterly regretted giving only ten kreuzers; he made him a handsome gift and spoke with him. It was a poor copper engraver who had injured his eye and was now without bread! — He feels unwell, and thus our customary Sunday gathering in the evening becomes a burden. —
I write to Hans a report on the state of our artistic affairs; this weighs upon me to the point of exhaustion. The sole feeling to which my heart clings as to an anchor is this: that even though I would wish greater happiness for all whom I love than has been granted them, for myself I would not wish it to be otherwise; the more deeply I suffer, the more strongly there forms within me this strange voluptuousness of suffering. Gladly would I believe that, as the vapours of the earth become fertilising rain, so too the sighs and tears that spring from me might descend as a blessing upon the children; yet then suffering would be like a Fata Morgana, whereas it must be the utmost reality! — — —
We were recently pleased to discover (in Littré[1]) that the word “joli” is derived from “Jul”.
[1] “Le Littré” was a dictionary of the French language produced by Emilie Littré (1801-1881), a French lexicographer and philosopher.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins [© Jo Cousins | WAGNER Salon]
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