Miserable night, foul odours, uncleanness in Germany, we leave the hotel. Breakfast at the Kurhaus, ascent of the Schlackenburg; [1] R. shows me the pheasantry, where once he read to his mother the poem of Tannhäuser. Also the house “To Paradise”, where, as a young man, he surprised his family, having walked on foot from Leipzig to Teplitz, and they, in dismay, were obliged to tell him they were leaving on the morrow; in the early dawn Cäcilie had taken him once more to the Schlackenburg. Walk in the fair Hofgarten, full of memories; then to Schönau, where we saw the oak beneath which R., as Kapellmeister, had dwelt, and the path where he met Rector Baumgarten—whose granddaughter is now instructress to our children; likewise the farmhouse where he took his meals. Bathed in the Kaiserbad (wonderful) and lodged there. In the afternoon drove to the Wilhelmshöhe; glorious evening, fair mood, beautiful country.
[1] The prose draft for the opera “Das Liebesverbot” was created at the Schlackenburg near Teplitz.____
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins.