Fidi seven years of age; R. surprises me with the Idyll, brings Fidi to me in bed whilst I still sleep, and then it sounds. At the conclusion, Fidi is presented by R. to the musicians upon the gallery; they cheer him heartily, he thanks them! A stork circles about the house — a happy omen.
In the evening R. has rehearsal (a staging rehearsal, second scene of Rheingold); Ballet-master Fricke is said to have accomplished something extraordinary with the local gymnasts as Nibelungs. Only R. is frightfully overstrained, and the delay in so many matters, above all the decorations by the Brückner brothers — who meanwhile have painted fourteen sets for the Duke of Meiningen — agitates him greatly.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins [© Jo Cousins | WAGNER Salon]