The decision to go to Vienna is becoming increasingly difficult; the decoration [1] for the second act has arrived, a bookbinder’s and confectioner’s opus! Moreover, Herr Jauner offers Frau Wilt [2] (notorious for her monstrous figure) as Elisabeth: attempts to break away from Messrs. Voltz and Batz! Walk with R. In the evening read “Parzival”—delight in the great poet; R. believes that the Fisher King is a misunderstanding of the word pêcheur [3], and that it signifies rather the sinful King, that is, Amfortas. —We visited today our good Captain Schenk, [3] who has fallen victim to the arbitrariness of his lieutenant. —Lately, as he was lying down to bed, R. cried out: “How good that we are not upon the sea”—and it pierced me like a dagger through the heart, that Hans is now in all likelihood voyaging there now.
[1] This was the term used at the time to describe the set design and other stage paintings.
[2] Maria Wilt (1834-1891), singer, 1867-77 at the Vienna Court Opera; she did not sing Elisabeth in Vienna, but rather Frau Ehnn, who, according to critics, surprised in a “most pleasant way,” see note on November 22, 1875.
[3] Fisherman, and pécheur, sinner, a double meaning to which RW alludes here.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins.