Letters from the children, all good. I received some visits. At five o’clock, I dined with the Helmholtzens at the Schleinitz house. In the evening, with Frau von Schleinitz, we listened to “Werwolf” by Count Hochberg,[1] neither worse nor better than any other music. At Frau von Schleinitz’s, I saw R.’s portrait by Lenbach, certainly the most beautiful one made of R.; sorrowful feeling not to have it, though without envy. A magnificent speech by Bismarck in the House of Deputies.
[1] Bolko Count Hochberg of Fürstenstein (1843-1926), initially a diplomat, later a composer, founded the Silesian Music Festivals in 1876, and was the General Intendant of the Royal Theaters in Berlin from 1886 to 1903. Belonging to the Romantic movement, he wrote symphonies, choral works, and the opera “Die Falkensteiner” (1876), based on a werewolf text, which was revised in 1881 as “Der Wärwolf”.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins.