R. is plagued by his cold and is beginning to have a tooth abscess. Visits, letters, reading Gfrörer in the evenings.
Decision to remove Schopenhauer from the wall “because he does not fit in with Goethe, Schiller, Beethoven; the philosopher must be solitary, he must translate into calm reflection everything that others convey with emotion.” R. is completely outraged by the fact that Beethoven is pushed into a corner. “Who can compare themselves to him? What can be likened to a melody, that direct gift from heaven?”…
“I must assume that I have a spirit within who wants something through me,” says R., contemplating the possibility of losses that he would not be able to endure.
The aforementioned Beethoven picture is a copy of the picture by Isidor Neugaß, 1806, version of the Lichnowski family (Neugaß also painted the picture for the Brunswik family, in which Beethoven wears a watch or lorgnette strap). The unknown copyist of the picture in Wahnfried opted for a more intense color scheme.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins.