Letter from Herr Unger: he is anxious, fearing breach of contract; R. writes him to set his mind at rest. We resolve to travel by way of Munich to Vienna, to confer on various matters with Hofrat Düfflipp. R. thinks it was mainly because of the local castles nearby for the members of the nobility. Our dear Feustel, whom I visited to-day, is likewise of opinion that other business relations must be set in order (an advance to be arranged, and a declaration that Voltz and Batz are not entitled to collect revenues in Munich). – As after dinner we speak with R. of those persons who, without any real moral or intellectual ground, are yet agreeable to us, he says: “Not at all; I am concerned only with the relationship to you, and this so fulfills me that all else is either indifferent to me, or disturbing.” –
Fidi begins to read, and shows pleasure in it. – In the evening a violoncello sonata, whereby we perceive ever more clearly how wretched this combination is, and how paralyzing it must be to the greatest composers—and yet, even beneath this disfavour, the Adagio of Beethoven’s penultimate sonata makes the most profound impression. Divine one—who could thank thee? …If remorse is the feeling that one wishes one had not done something, then I do not know this, but if it is the feeling of the bitterest pain, of having to do as one has done, thereby coming to the most mournful sense of the evil of one’s existence, then am I possessed by it—ever and always filled with it. Thoughts of Hans—then, too, of my death—shall that atone for all?
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins.