Once more a bass singer, a Herr Kögel,[1] who pleases R. exceedingly. R. returns from the rehearsal fairly well satisfied. At noon, as I am about to pay visits, Mimi brings me the newspaper notice of my mother’s death.[2] At first I cannot credit it—I telegraph to Paris, and remain without reply. R. reports that all the newspapers carry the same tidings! — — Claire[3] does not know my present address.
[1] Josef K. (1836-1899), bass, at the Hamburg Opera from 1874 to 1884.
[2] Countess Marie d’Agoult died on 5th March 1876 in Paris; the newspaper notice reads: “On Sunday, Countess Agoult, known by her pen name Daniel Stern, died in Paris at the age of seventy-one. The deceased, who was frequently mentioned in her time because of her relationship with Liszt, was the mother of the late Emile Ollivier and the current wife of Richard Wagner.”
[3] Claire de Charnacé (1830 – 1912), the daughter of Marie d’Agoult and Charles Louis Constant d’Agoult (1790 – 1875), was Cosima’s half-sister.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins [© Jo Cousins | WAGNER Salon]