Left at half-past nine; fine weather. In Köthen, R. recalls that he once visited Nathalie[1] at the institution in the town of Herrenhuter with Minna; Gnadauer pretzels remind him of it. At four o’clock, I arrived in Hannover, where I write this. In the evening at 7 o’clock, a performance of “Lohengrin”, unfortunately not well done. The tenor, William Müller, was initially pleasant with his voice, but as the work progressed, he became overly sweet and nonsensical; the costumes, mise en scène, and tempi were dreadful. Later, I spoke with R. about the impressions, “Genoveva” having been so well performed, while “Lohengrin” was so poorly done. (The audience showed great enthusiasm.)
[1] Nathalie Planer, née Bilz (1826-1892), the illegitimate daughter of Minna Planer before her marriage to RW, her father was likely a Mr. von Einsiedel; she was always presented as Minna’s sister.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins.