Excerpts re Nietzsche in:
Cosima Wagner's Diaries.
Vol. 1. 1869-1877. Vol. 2. 1878-1883.
Translation by Geoffrey Skelton.
NY: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1978.
[Annotations by TNC.]
 
The Nietzsche Channel
PAGEDATE DIARY ENTRY RE NIETZSCHE
EXCERPTS FROM VOLUME 1. 1869-1877.
9605-17-69At lunch a philologist, Professor Nietzsche, whom R. first met at the Brockhaus home and who knows R.'s works thoroughly and even quotes from Opera and Drama in his lectures. A quiet and pleasant visit [....]
9705-20-69[...] invited Professor Nietzsche, for R.'s [56th] birthday.
9805-23-69R. had [letter] of birthday greetings [...] from the philologist Nietzsche (very nice letter) [....]
10306-05-69Prof. Nietzsche, the philologist, announces a visit, R. wishes to put him off, I feel it is better that he come [she's pregnant with son Siegfried]. [.... Diary continued in Richard Wagner's handwriting:] A bearable evening spent with Nietzsche. Said good night about 11.
10306-06-69[Diary continued in Richard Wagner's handwriting:] At 1 o'clock down to Richard to tell him and to insist that for the time being no fuss be made, that the arrangements for the day be adhered to, and that Nietzsche should stay for lunch with the children. [.... she gives birth to Siegfried at 4 a.m. ....] At noon R. had to leave me in order to preside over the midday meal with his guest (Nietzsche) and the children. During this time I was given the attention necessary to my condition. At 4:30 R. was relieved of his onerous duties.
11807-02-69(Wrote to Prof. Nietzsche and returned to him L bke's wretched essay on Die Msinger.) [Wilhelm L bke (1826-1893): Wilhelm L bke und Eduard Hanslick ber Richard Wagner (Berlin: L. Gerschel, 1869). On Wagner, a 24-page pamphlet co-written by L bke, an art historian, and the Austrian musicologist and critic Eduard Hanslick.]
13107-31-69Visit from Professor Nietzsche, a well-formed and pleasant human being.
13308-02-69Concerning Die heilige Elisabeth, Nietzsche yesterday remarked to me that it smelled more of incense than of roses. [Franz Liszt's oratorio Die Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth (1865) concerns the life of Saint Elisabeth (1207-31), wife of Ludwig IV, Landgrave of Thuringia: he disapproved of her acts of charity and once caught her with a bundle of bread which she was carrying to the poor; when he commanded her to open it, the bundle was found to contain not bread, but roses.]
13808-19-69While I am working with the children, a package arrives from Professor Nietzsche: Semper's lectures on architectural styles. [Lectures of Gottfried Semper (1803-1879), based on his book: Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen K nsten (Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts).]
13908-21-69In the evening a visit from Professor Nietzsche, very pleasant as always.
13908-22-69In the morning, breakfast with the professor [....] Confusion concerning the professor's departure. He is staying until tomorrow morning. [....] When I told Prof. Nietzsche of our experiences in Munich, he said they were truly horrifying.
14008-26-69Very friendly letter from Professor Nietzsche, who sends us a lecture on Homer [Homer und die klassische Philologie (Homer and Classical Philology)]. [....] Nietzsche's lecture [...] excellent. [....] Wrote to Prof. Nietzsche.
14208-28-69At midday the Brockhaus family and Prof. Nietzsche, all very kind.
14208-29-69[...] Prof. Nietzsche; always pleasant.
14509-10-69Letter from Professor Nietzsche, who reports that all newspapers are full of infamous accounts, talking of a complete break between W. and the King, etc. He asks for news, which I then give him.
14709-18-69In the evening visit from Professor Nietzsche, who tells me of the most licentious things in the newspapers. Among much else it is asserted that the performance of Das Rheingold is connected with a plot whose strings can be sought in the Tuileries. W. is said to have made an alliance with the Catholic party; the proof: Frau von Muchanoff, whose daughter is a radical supporter of the Catholics, and so on—all this rubbish is screamed across the world in order to prevent people's recognizing the incompetence of the theater management with regard to Das Rheingold.
14809-19-69Coffee with Prof. Nietzsche; unfortunately he vexes R. very much with an oath he has sworn not to eat meat, but only vegetables. R. considers this nonsense, arrogance as well, and when the Prof. says it is morally important not to eat animals, etc., R. replies that our whole existence is a compromise, which we can only expiate by producing some good. One cannot do that just by drinking milk—better, then, to become an ascetic. To do good in our climate we need good nourishment, and so on. Since the Prof. admits that Richard is right, yet nevertheless sticks to his abstinence, R. becomes angry.
15109-29-69[...] I [write] to Prof. Nietzsche about the portrait of Uncle Adolph. [R. Wagner's Uncle Adolf....] In the evening [R.] brings me a letter from Prof. Nietzsche. The latter sends me a newspaper in which are printed quotations from R.'s correspondence with a "very dear" friend. Who this last is, is not stated, and I say nothing to R. about it.
15610-18-69Letter from Prof. Nietzsche (very nice).
15610-19-69I reply to Prof. Nietzsche.
16211-05-69A Paris newspaper announces our marriage in very dignified phrases, a Herr Beckmann protests against ugly rumors. R. laughs, embraces me, and says, "Oh, yes, you are being gossiped about with me." Then he takes Siegfried in his arms and plays with him for a long time; to me he says: "We shall have to send Siegfried away; when he is approaching manhood he will have to meet other people, to get to know adversity, have fun, and misbehave himself; otherwise he will become a dreamer, maybe an idiot, the sort of thing we see in the King of Bavaria." "But where?" "With Nietzsche—wherever Nietzsche is teaching—and we shall watch from afar, as Wotan watches the education of Siegfried. He will have free meals twice a week with Nietzsche, and every Saturday we shall expect a report."
16311-08-69(Prof. Nietzsche announces a visit.)
16411-13-69In the afternoon visit from Professor Nietzsche, who tells me it is quite incredible what lies are circulating in the world, both written and spoken, about R. (how, for instance, he stands before a mirror in an effort to equate himself with Goethe and Schiller—then about his luxury, his harem, his intimacy with the King of Bavaria, whom he incites to all his follies, etc.). We wonder what picture of him will go down in posterity.
16411-14-69In the evening R. and Prof. Nietzsche discuss the first conceptions of language, which R. describes jokingly as talking primitive philology.
16711-24-69Friendly letter from Professor Nietzsche, replied to him.
17012-07-69Letter from Prof. Nietzsche, he is coming to us at Christmas.
17112-09-69(Wrote to Prof. Nietzsche.)
17112-11-69Very nice letter to R. from Prof. N.
17512-24-69Professor Nietzsche comes in the morning and helps me set up the puppet theater with Iftekhar on it. [....] Professor Nietzsche's gift to me is the dedication of his lecture on Homer ["Homer and Classical Philology"].
17612-25-69Family lunch; afterward read Parzival with Prof. Nietzsche [...]
17701-03-70Have not written in this book for a whole week. Spent most of the time with Prof. Nietzsche, who left us yesterday.
18101-17-70Wrote to Prof. Nietzsche. He has sent me Gervinus on Handel [Georg Gottfried Gervinus (1805-1871): H ndel und Shakespeare: zur sthetik der Tonkunst (H ndel and Shakespeare: On the Aesthetics of Music). Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1868.]; when in this connection I tell R. that Gervinus's book on Shakespeare is still selling well after 30 years, R. says: "That's because of the subject. If Shakespeare were to write a book about Gervinus, it would probably not sell at all." —
18401-25-70For me a letter from Professor Nietzsche and arrival of a Semper drawing. [....] In the evening I read Gervinus to R. (Shakespeare, Handel), great dismay over the style (not to speak of the contents), he writes like Eduard Devrient! Prof. N. also sent me a philosophical book (Hartmann), which arouses feelings of great repugnance. [Eduard von Hartmann (1842-1906): Philosophie des Unbewussten (Philosophy of the Unconscious). Berlin: 1869.] Time and time again R. harks back to the greatness of Schopenhauer.
18502-01-70Sent Prof. N. his books back (Gervinus and Hartmann).
18602-03-70Letter from Prof. N. enclosing his lecture on Socrates ["Socrates und die Tragoedie" (Socrates and Tragedy)]. [....] In the evening R. reads me the lecture, which we find very stimulating. "Beloved music," Socrates's dream, brings R. back to the subject of the musical theme. "How much more significant does such a theme appear than any spoken thought! Schopenhauer is right: music is a world in itself, the other arts only express a world."
18602-04-70In the evening R. reads me The Frogs by Aristophanes, in connection with our discussions on the lecture ("Socrates and Greek Tragedy").
18702-06-70Wrote to Prof. N. while the children were playing.
18802-07-70[R.] writes to Prof. N., who wrote us two very nice letters about his lecture.
18902-12-70Prof. Nietzsche arrives. Lengthy conversation about his lecture. Then R. plays us passages from Mozart's Entf hrung and Figaro—he likes the old Simrock editions. When Prof. N. remarks that Mozart is said to have invented the music of intrigue, R. replies that, on the contrary, he resolved intrigue in melody. One has only to compare Beaumarchais's (incidentally excellent) play with Mozart's opera to see that the former contains cunning, clever, and calculating people who deal and talk wittily with one another, while in Mozart they are transfigured, suffering, sorrowing human beings.
18902-13-70Spent the morning with Prof. Nietzsche, talked of many things. He tells me that Dorn, the conductor, has published a book whose whole purpose is simply to denigrate R. Dorn attempts to conceal the base tricks he played in Riga by telling all sorts of lies. In them R. addresses him in a downright childlike way—what mean advantage is taken of this! I beg Prof. N. to say nothing to R. about it. Lunch with the children. Prof. N.'s departure.
19102-17-70In the evening a letter from Prof. Nietzsche, which pleases us, for his mood had given us cause for concern. Regarding this, R. says he fears that Schopenhauer's philosophy might in the long run be a bad influence on young people of this sort, because they apply his pessimism, which is a form of thinking, contemplation, to life itself, and derive from it an active form of hopelessness. —
19403-01-70Letter from Prof. Nietzsche enclosing another from the bookseller Lesimple, who reports that on his instigation (via Prof. N.) the question of R.'s being given the direction of the music festival in Bonn is being eagerly discussed.
19903-15-70Letter from Prof. Nietzsche: in Bonn they have unanimously chosen F. Hiller as conductor of the music festival!
20003-16-70I write to Prof. Nietzsche.
20203-26-70Letter from Prof. Nietzsche.
20303-28-70Wrote to Prof. Nietzsche.
20604-04-70Letter from Prof. Nietzsche.
20804-10-70Letter from Prof. Nietzsche, who announces his promotion to professor ordinarius and speaks of newspaper reports making R. the musical director in Berlin.
20904-14-70Letter from Prof. N., who reports that Doris B[rockhaus]'s fianc killed himself.
21204-19-70Still unwell: wrote to Prof. Nietzsche.
21605-05-70Letter to me from Prof. Nietzsche.
21805-10-70Arrival of Prof. Nietzsche's speech ["Analecta Laertiana"] in Latin [...]
21905-15-70Letter to Prof. Nietzsche.
22005-18-70Nice letter to [R.] from Prof. Nietzsche.
22205-22-70[...] a nice letter from Prof. Nietzsche.
22806-04-70In the afternoon [letter] by R. to Nietzsche [...]
23106-11-70Returning home I find Prof. Nietzsche and his friend Herr [Erwin] Rohde, also a philologist, who had announced their coming yesterday. Lively and serious conversation. In the evening Prof. N. reads us a lecture on the Greek music drama [Nietzsche's 1-18-70 lecture "Das griechische Musikdrama"], a title for which R. pulls him up, explaining the reason for his disapproval. The lecture is a good one and shows that he has a true feeling for Greek art. (Prof. N. has brought me D rer's Melancholie.)
23606-21-70Prof. Nietzsche writes very nicely of the impression Tribschen made on him and his friend, and he dedicates to me his lectures on Socrates and Greek art.
23706-24-70[...] I write to Prof. Nietzsche [...]
24507-16-70Letter from Prof. Nietzsche, who out of consideration for us did not go to see Die Walk re in Munich; I reply to him and try as hard as I can to arouse his enthusiasm for Prussia's right to represent Germany.
24607-18-70Letter from Prof. Nietzsche, who, it seems, in order to escape both the French and the Germans, is going to the Axenstein.
24907-28-70Visit from Prof. Nietzsche [...]
24907-29-70Spent the morning with Prof. N., R. reads passages from his essay on Beethoven, I am surprised I can follow it so well, since I have never studied philosophy. After lunch Herr N. introduces his sister to me, a nice, modest girl.
24907-30-70Prof. Nietzsche is going to the Maderaner valley with his sister.
25408-09-70Letter from Prof. Nietzsche, who has resolved to join the army. I reply to him, saying the time is not yet ripe.
25708-16-70I receive two letters from Prof. Nietzsche, the first, delayed, from Basel, the other from Erlangen, where he is already tending the wounded. In a few days he will be going to Metz.
26108-21-70(Letter from Prof. Nietzsche; he is composing music ["Ade! Ich muss nun gehen"] in the military hospital [in Erlangen].)
26408-29-70(Letter from Prof. Nietzsche in Maximiliansau.)
26509-01-70[...] some lines from Prof. Nietzsche (in Hagenau), who describes the terrible state and inadequacy of the medical care on the battlefields. Is it now over at last? ... Prof. N. says the French are still talking about the conquest of the Rhine!
26609-02-70(I write [...] to Prof. N. [...].)
27009-13-70Prof. Nietzsche writes to R., he is back in Erlangen and is ill.
27109-16-70Letter from Prof. Nietzsche, who seems to be deeply upset.
27109-18-70I write to Prof. Nietzsche.
28710-24-70Letter from Prof. Nietzsche, who, now recovered, has returned to Basel; he voices his fears that in the coming days militarism, and above all pietism, will make their pressure felt everywhere.
29010-30-70Letter to Prof. Nietzsche, recommending our student [Schobinger] to him.
29511-12-70[Letter] from [...] Prof. Nietzsche.
29611-14-70Prof. Nietzsche sends back Beethoven, remarking that probably few people will be able to follow R.
29911-24-70In the evening a letter from Prof. Nietzsche, who announces his arrival on Saturday and is terribly pessimistic with regard to Germany.
30011-26-70In the afternoon arrival of Prof. Nietzsche.
30011-27-70Breakfast with [Hans] Richter and the Prof.; I greatly concerned: the Loire army is described as very substantial (120,000) and is reported to be well led. Prof. Nietzsche says that he and his German colleagues in Basel are extremely worried!
30312-04-70Prof. Nietzsche sends us Burckhardt's book on the Renaissance [Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897): Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien: ein Versuch (Leipzig: 1869)] and a little treatise by Prof. Czermak on Schopenhauer's color theory [Johann Nepomuk Czermak (1828-1873): " ber Schopenhauer's Theorie der Farbe: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Farbenlehre" (in: Sitzungsbericht der sterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften)].
30812-16-70Letter from Prof. Nietzsche: a Basel professor asked him whether Wagner's Beethoven was written against Beethoven!
31112-24-70At 5 o'clock R. returns from town, bringing Prof. Nietzsche with him [...]
31212-26-70In the evening R. reads aloud passages from the manuscript Prof. Nietzsche gave me as a birthday gift; it is entitled "Die Geburt des tragischen Gedankens" [The Birth of the Tragic Concept] and is of the greatest value; the depth and excellence of his survey, conveyed with a very concentrated brevity, is quite remarkable; we follow his thoughts with the greatest and liveliest interest. My greatest pleasure is in seeing how R.'s ideas can be extended in this field.
31312-28-70In the afternoon music from Tristan, played by Richter for me and Prof. Nietzsche. [....] (Yesterday visit from our good student, Schobinger, who comes from Basel and assures me he finds more pleasure in seeing me again than any of his relations. Prof. N. helped him to get his scholarship.)
31412-31-70In the afternoon the quartet players from Zurich, R. rehearsed them in the F Major Quartet, Opus 59 (a favorite work of mine, if one may speak thus of such divine things), then the last (also F Major). Toward eleven o'clock the musicians go away, we stay up, Prof. Nietzsche, our good Richter, and we two. Midnight arrives, we wish each other a Happy New Year. May God bring us all peace! —
31601-01-71Family lunch; at about 4 o'clock Prof. N. takes his departure.
31701-02-71In Torgau, as Prof. Nietzsche tells us, the soldiers sing "G tternot, nur Knechte knete ich mir," from Die Walk re.
31701-03-71Letter to Prof. Nietzsche, who has been instrumental in getting our nephew Fritz Brockhaus called to Basel. [....] In the evening we once again discuss Prof. Nietzsche's thesis ["The Birth of the Tragic Concept"], and R. cannot praise it too highly.
31801-04-71(Letter to Prof. N. [...])
31801-05-71Talking again about E. T. A. Hoffmann, R. says he is always intrigued by the dilettantism in Germany, for to a certain extent all our greatest poets have been dilettantes, who produce sketches, in contrast to the Greeks, whose work always seems complete and assured. This leads us on to Prof. N.'s work ["The Birth of the Tragic Concept"], and R. says, "He is the only living person, apart from Constantin Frantz, who has provided me with something, a positive enrichment of my outlook."
32401-19-71Letter from Prof. Nietz., he quotes some very fine words of his friend Rohde about Beethoven.
33102-01-71Our friend Prof. Nietzsche is ill [...]
33402-10-71[...] a letter from Prof. Nietzsche, who is traveling to Italy without coming to say goodbye to me, arouses troubled thoughts in R.
35203-26-71Letter from Prof. Nietzsche in Lugano.
35304-03-71At breakfast Prof. Nietzsche is suddenly announced, he comes from Lugano and will spend some days here. He appears very run down.
35304-04-71Good article on Beethoven in an English periodical (Academy), the author (Franz H ffer) a German acquaintance of Prof. Nietzsche's and a former opponent of R.
35404-05-71Prof. N. reads to me from a work (The Origin and Aim of Greek Tragedy [first draft of The Birth of Tragedy]) which he wants to dedicate to R.; great delight over that; in it one sees a gifted man imbued with R.'s ideas in his own way.
35404-08-71Prof. Nietzsche departs, after making the children happy with a green snake.
36405-11-71I learn this evening from Clemens Br[ockhaus] that Prof. Nietzsche has now dedicated his Homer [see 12-24-69], which he once dedicated to me, to his sister, and with the same poem. I had to laugh at first, but then, after discussing it with R., see it as a dubious streak, an addiction to treachery, as it were—as if he were seeking to avenge himself for some great impression. [In fact, N. had dedicated several copies to various friends.]
36605-15-71At 8 o'clock in Basel, where we spend a nice evening in the hotel with Prof. Nietzsche and our nephew Friedrich Brockhaus.
36805-22-71On our return we found Prof. Nietzsche in the house. [....] Prof. N. tells us that he intends to found a periodical, under R.'s auspices, two years hence, till then he will be busy preparing it.—
36805-24-71In the afternoon, a visit from Prof. Nietzsche, R. accompanies him to the railroad station.
36905-27-71Prof. Nietzsche does not come, the events [i.e., fires (threatening the Louvre)] in Paris have upset him too much.
36905-28-71At midday arrival of Prof. Nietzsche (with sister), whom Richard had summoned (over the signature Lindhorst) by telegram. R. speaks sharply to him about the fire and its significance: "If you are not capable of painting pictures again, you are not worthy of possessing them." Prof. N. says that for the scholar such events mean the end of all existence. Spoke of Bakunin—whether he was among the arsonists [....]
37005-29-71After lunch discussion about Aeschylus and the misunderstood saying that "he was always drunk," about actors, and also, in passing, about Sophocles; and that tragedy had certainly evolved out of improvisation. All this contributed by Prof. Nietzsche, together with Sophocles's saying about Aeschylus, that "he does the right thing without knowing it," which R. compares with Schopenhauer's saying about musicians—that they speak the highest wisdom in a language that their reason does not understand.— Our friends leave [....]
37806-18-71Prof. Nietzsche sends back Siegfrieds Tod, he has copied it out himself! With it he also sends his essay [Sokrates und die griechische Trag die (Socrates and Greek Tragedy)].
37806-19-71I write to thank Prof. N.
38206-24-71In the evening a letter from Prof. Nietzsche.
38206-25-71Read Prof. Nietzsche's pamphlet [Sokrates und die griechische Trag die (Socrates and Greek Tragedy)] with great interest, he is certainly the most outstanding of our friends.
39007-15-71Letter from Prof. Nietzsche. In this friendship, too, R. lavishes more love than he receives.
39007-17-71Yesterday I read a pamphlet by the theologian [Franz] Overbeck, which Prof. Nietzsche sent me; it brings R. and me to a discussion of religion. "The Catholics are quite right when they say the Bible must not be read by profane people, for religion is for those who can neither read nor write. But they played such shameful havoc with their interpretations that Luther became the only one who could take his stand on the Bible. He did indeed in that way also open the doors to science and to criticism, but Christ will continue to live all the same."
39907-30-71After lunch Herr von Gersdorff visits us, he is a friend of Prof. Nietzsche's who went right through the war and has all the noble and earnest characteristics of the North German. Naturally the conversation revolves around the war.
39907-31-71At table Herr v. Gersdorff, Prof. Nietzsche, Prof. Brockhaus, all equally pleasant. We spent our time in Tribschen, talking happily. —
39908-03-71Lunch as yesterday; at five o'clock Herr von G. and Prof. Nietzsche leave us. The latter is certainly the most gifted of our young friends, but a not quite natural reserve makes his behavior in many respects most displeasing. It is as if he were trying to resist the overwhelming effect of Wagner's personality.
40008-05-71Yesterday R. caused me sorrow; Prof. Nietzsche had asked me for the [Siegfried] Idyll, so that he could read it; after asking R., I lent it to him, requesting him on his departure to return it to me, but he forgot; after his departure R. asked about it; our absent-minded friend had left the little work lying on the piano, and R., assuming that I had been negligent, had taken it to his room in vexation; this pained me deeply, for my only mistake had been in assuming that Prof. N. had done as I asked and put the manuscript back in its place, which he knows.
40208-12-71Nice letter from Prof. Nietzsche.
40208-17-71Letters from Herr v. Gersdorff, Frl. Nietzsche [....] I send Siegfried to Prof. Nietzsche and make the copy for the King.
40608-28-71Letter from Prof. Nietzsche, saying that Dr. Liebermeister in Basel strongly recommends iron and calcium for Fidi.
41109-11-71(Letter from Prof. Nietzsche.)
42410-21-71Letter from Prof. Nietzsche, he wants his book [The Birth of Tragedy] to be published by Fritzsch.
42710-27-71In the afternoon surprise visit by Prof. Nietzsche from Basel. He tells us the title of his book, which will be called The Emergence of Tragedy from Music. [Preliminary title of The Birth of Tragedy.]
42710-28-71Visited Marie M[uchanoff] with Prof. N. [...]
42911-05-71R. is working, "still bloodthirstily"; recently he said to Prof. Nietzsche, "From the fact that I am now composing nothing but bloodthirstiness one can deduce whether I was in love when I wrote Tristan."
43511-26-71Prof. N. recommends a poor musician, but it is now too late; certainly we would prefer the poor wretch to the smooth Spiegel [a music teacher from Zurich], but it cannot be helped.
44012-16-71In Basel at 9 o'clock; evening with Fritz Br[ockhaus]. and Prof. Nietzsche.
44012-17-71Coffee with the two Basel professors at 3 o'clock [...]
44012-18-71Arrival of Prof. Nietzsche, who has literally run away from Basel.
44012-19-71In the evening Pohl, Ritters, and Nietzsche.
44112-20-71Dinner with Ritters, Pohl, Nietzsche.
44212-25-71Fine letter from Prof. Nietzsche, who has sent me a musical composition. ["Nachklang einer Sylvesternacht, mit Prozessionslied, Bauerntanz und Glockengel ute" (Echoes of New Year's Eve, with processional song, peasant dance and the pealing of bells).]
44501-03-72Arrival of Prof. Nietzsche's book [The Birth of Tragedy]. [....] at midday I find R. very excited and stimulated by Prof. Nietzsche's book, he is happy to have lived to read it; he says after me comes N[ietzsche]. and then Lenbach, who painted his picture, and he observes how dreary his life would have been if he had died ten years ago [....] He calls me his priestess of Apollo—he says I am the Apollonian element, he the Dionysian, but we made an alliance, a pact, and from it came Fidi! [....] In the evening we read Nietzsche's book, which is really splendid; R. thinks of the people who at the moment set the tone in Germany and wonders what the fate of this book will be; he hopes in Bayreuth to start a periodical, which Prof. Nietzsche would edit.
44601-04-72In the evening read more of Nietzsche's book, which gives R. ever-increasing satisfaction, but we wonder where the public for it is to be found.— R. ends the day by saying, "My love for you is both Dionysian and Apollonian."
44601-06-72Yesterday we read [Nietzsche's] new book, with solemn feelings and with ever-increasing pleasure. [....] Finished Prof. Nietzsche's book in the evening. "This is the book I have been longing for," says R.
44701-07-72In the evening we begin the Oresteia, very powerful impact; talked a lot about Nietzsche's book.
44801-10-72Prof. Nietzsche' writes that he is ill, whereupon R. writes him a touching and affectionate letter.
45001-16-72Prof. N. sends the copies of the deluxe edition. We consider how to prevent his books being killed by silence.
45001-18-72I write to Prof. Nietzsche while R. works. [....] Letter from Clemens: the Nietzsche book has not been understood there; R. replies to him at length, telling him what he thinks of the book and its author.
45101-20-72Prof. Nietzsche pays us a surprise visit, which pleases us very much. Many things discussed: plans for the future, school reform, etc.; he plays us his composition ["Echoes of New Year's Eve ..."] very beautifully.
45101-21-72Still fine weather; we go, 6 of us, for a morning walk [...] Our friend [Nietzsche] means very much to us.
45201-25-72Prof. N. writes sympathetically from Basel, where he saw R.
45301-31-72In the evening read Nietzsche's book.
45402-04-72Prof. Nietzsche writes me that Hans [von B low] thanked him for sending his book and said he would be visiting Basel in March.
45502-06-72Prof. Nietzsche has sent me the book Caroline, without a doubt the most insipid thing it is possible to imagine. [Caroline Schelling (1763-1809): Caroline: Briefe an ihre Geschwister, ihre Tochter Auguste, die Familie Gotter, F. L. W. Meyer, A. W. und Fr. Schlegel, J. Schelling ... Hrsg. von Georg Waitz. Leipzig: Hirzel, 1871.]
45502-07-72In the evening glanced a little through Caroline: very pitiful stuff!
45502-08-72I write to Prof. Nietzsche and give the children lessons.
45602-09-72[Dictation]: On January 24 via Basel, where I spent several hours with Nietzsche and Fritz B[rockhaus], on the night train to Berlin; although I tried to keep up a brave face in front of them, a letter from N[ietzsche]. which followed me showed that he had recognized the evil necessity behing my journey and truly regretted it.
45702-11-72Of Opera and Drama, which [R.] is correcting he says: "I know what Nietzsche didn't like in it—it is the same thing which Kossak took up and which set Schopenhauer against me: what I said about words. At the time I didn't dare to say that it was music which produced drama, although inside myself I knew it."
45802-15-72Letter from Prof. Nietzsche.
45902-18-72Returning home, we are surprised by a visit from Prof. Nietzsche, to whom R. then gives an account of his journey.
45902-19-72R., who had a good night, after breakfast plays the first scene to our friend [Nietzsche], and that upsets [R.] so much that the whole day through he can eat nothing and is very run down. All the same, there is much discussion of the reform of educational establishments, also of the German character.
46303-03-72Prof. Nietzsche sent us several letters, among them one from Prof. Ritschl to him, very ironical in tone.
46603-10-72Prof. Nietzsche sends Hase's Polemik and a letter to him from my father [Franz Liszt], who claims precedence for Golgotha and Tabor over Helicon and Parnassus.
46603-11-72I write to [...] Prof. Nietzsche (who tells me Hans [von B low] will be giving his concert in Basel within the next three weeks).
47003-21-72[Fritz Brockhaus] brings us Prof. Nietzsche's lectures in Basel.
47003-23-72In the evening [read] the first two of Prof. Nietzsche's Basel lectures ["On the Future of Our Eductional Institutions"].
47003-24-72In the evening read Prof. N.'s third lecture.
47103-25-72Prof. N. announces a visit. R. does not work. The 4th lecture affects us very much.
47103-28-72Toward noon arrival of Professor Nietzsche, who brings Lulu 100 francs in coins from her father. He saw a lot of Hans [von B low] in Basel and found him contented and in good spirits. In the evening he read us his 5th lecture.
47203-29-72[...] R. goes out with Prof. N.
47203-30-72In the morning went out with Prof. Nietzsche in fine spring weather while R. worked.
47203-31-72[...] with the professor's help I hide eggs for the children. [....] In the afternoon I make music with Prof. Nietzsche.
47204-01-72Prof. Nietzsche takes his leave.
47304-03-72In the Italian Rivista the first public mention of Prof. Nietzsche's book.
47904-21-72We are expecting Professor Nietzsche, but he does not come.
47904-22-72(Prof. N. writes today from Geneva.)
48004-25-72Toward 6 o'clock sudden arrival of Prof. Nietzsche from Montreaux.
48004-26-72In the evening some music, Prof. N. plays for me.
48004-27-72Prof. Nietzsche gone.
48605-18-72[Bayreuth] in the afternoon arrival of Prof. Nietzsche, Herr v. Gersdorff, and the Ritters. Herr Heckel of Mannheim is also here, is spending the night at the Fantaisie with Richter. Cheerful, companionable atmosphere, we all belong together. Many of the musicians already here. (R. writes to my father and in splendid words invites him here.)
48705-19-72Whitsunday and many visits; arranging the laurels just arrived from Vienna; on top of that Cornelius, Porges, Sch fer, not very pleasant, later Ritter, Nietzsche, Gersdorff, then Countess Krockow; finally, and most charming, Frau v. Schleinitz and Countess D nhoff. R. in town greeting the singers, much coming and going, but gay spirits. Rain, shortage of carriages.
48705-20-72First rehearsal, fine and touching welcome to the musicians from R., all in solemn mood, the only ones out of place the critics Gumprecht and Engel, who, in spite of R.'s veto, have taken up certificates of patronage in order to be here. Much to be learned; the musicians as yet have no idea of the interpretation. Another rehearsal in the afternoon, this time with the singers. Frl. Lehmann very good.— Malwida Meysenbug also here, to our great delight. Several from Florence. In the evening I with Marie Schleinitz, Baron Lo n from Weimar, Ernst Dohm, Prof. Rohde, Nietzsche, Gersdorff, etc. R. to bed immediately after the rehearsal; tired, but very exhilarated by his success. All the tribes of Germany are represented, and none has any other interest beyond his pleasure in art.
49005-25-72In the evening read an article by Prof. Rohde on Nietzsche's book; not suitable for the general public.
49105-29-72Very fine letters from Prof. N. to R. and to me. Certainly few people have so much feeling for our suffering and joys as he.
49406-04-72Letters from Herr v. Gersdorff; a philologist, Herr von Wilamowitz, hurls at us his polemic against Nietzsche's book, under the title Zukunftsphilosphie. It is said to be contemptible.
49706-09-72Letter from Prof. N., who sends us Herr von Wilamowitz's pamphlet attacking him. Observations arising out of this newest example of nastiness; R. sees the present state of the world as a sad one; professors educating more specialist professors, no humanistic education spreading its influence—the jurist, for example, never thinks of studying philology and philosophy, just all specialist subjects.
49706-10-72R. reads Herr von Wilamowitz's pamphlet and is provoked by it into writing an open letter to Prof. Nietzsche, which he reads to me in the evening.
49706-11-72R. works on his letter, which he completes and which I find quite masterly [...]
50406-26-72In the afternoon a nice letter comes from Prof. N., which R. replies to at once.
50506-30-72M. M[eysenbug] writes from Munich, where Tristan was performed. I am always beset by bitter feelings when I think about these performances, which delight our friends, taking place in our absence. (Prof. Nietzsche and Herr v. G[ersdorff] were also there.) "N. had his tragic mortal dished up there," says R., thinking of Tristan.
50607-01-72Hopes set on Prof. N.; regret that things of such significance make no real impression, attract no attention. But was it ever different? Certainly Kant's Critique of Pure Reason seems to have attracted very great attention.
50807-05-72Herr v. Gersdorff informs me of a plan by which Prof. Nietzsche will issue an appeal for a collection in which all who cannot buy certificates of patronage, or do not wish by means of a single contribution to join a Wagner Society, can take part. Our evening meal is enlarged by the presence of a Herr Krebs from Frankfurt am Main who, polite and well-educated, has come here with a curious request. He brings a sheet of paper which depicts, in a remarkably childish manner, Greek tragedy awakened by Wagner's genius; this is to be reproduced in gigantic size (like the Symposium of Feuerbach!), and he wants R.'s approval. R. advises him to read Nietzsche's book and gives it to him. He makes curious assertions—that one must now paint ideas, etc. After he has gone we are lost in astonishment over this curious apparition, and in the end have to laugh a lot over all these confusions.
51207-17-72In the afternoon [letter] from Prof. Nietzsche [...]
51607-27-72Prof. Nietzsche writes to R. that he is going to Munich for the university celebrations (i.e., for Tristan).
51908-01-72Visit from the dean [Dr. Dittmar, the dean of Bayreuth ....] He is reading Nietzsche's book [The Birth of Tragedy] and is much captivated by it, says there are things in it which belong to the best our literature has produced.
52608-21-72Letters from Marie D nhoff and Prof. Nietzsche; I answer the latter at once.
54210-15-72Wrote to Prof. Nietzsche.
54410-23-72R. writes to Prof. Nietzsche, announcing our visit to Basel, and among other things he encloses a little clipping from a newspaper, in which some tasteless extracts from opera texts are quoted and criticized, with the remark, "This goes even further than R. Wagner"!
54510-25-72[A] very fine reply to the Wilamowitz pamphlet [Erwin Rohde's Afterphilologie: zur Beleuchtung des von dem Dr. phil. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-M llendorff herausgegebenen Pamphlets: "Zukunftsphilologie!"; Sendschreiben eines Philologen an Richard Wagner. (Leipzig: Fritzsch, 1872)] in the form of a letter to R.— I read this to R. in the evening, to our very great delight, and R. says, "Yes, there we find ourselves in quite good company."
55511-09-72A letter to R. from Prof. Nietzsche, who reports that this semester every one of his students has stayed away! And so he has been excommunicated on account of his book; the news affects us very deeply, for it is a very serious matter and puts our friend in an impossible situation.— We start thinking up extravagant ideas and plans for sending students to Basel; of forcing from Bismarck an appointment in Berlin—all kinds of impossibilities. R. also has hopes that his journey might yield something: "This is a case where the aristocracy could intervene."— We are literally being outlawed; yesterday the dean told us that one of the precepts of the Catholic party is that its members must speak against Wagner and Bayreuth. I told R. I believed that we had now entered a particularly bad phase as far as the outside world was concerned. He laughs and says, "Oh, it is always bad."
55611-10-72I did not sleep well, the news about our friend [Nietzsche] upset me too much.
55911-21-72[...] Dr. Hemsen, librarian to the King [of W rttemberg]; he tells me that [...] he has acquired Nietzsche's book [The Birth of Tragedy] for the library.
56011-23-72I write in the meantime to Prof. Rohde, who is now also completely outlawed and utterly isolated and without prospects.
56011-24-72Dinner with the Kessingers and Nietzsche in the Restaurant Valentin [....] Gay atmosphere [....] ([....] Prof. Nietzsche tells me that in Munich a Dr. Puschmann, lecturer at the university there, has just published a paper in which he proves psychiatrically that R. is mad. [Theodor Puschmann (1844-1899): Richard Wagner, eine psychiatrische Studie.] That such things are possible and are tolerated!)
56512-04-72Letter from Prof. Nietzsche, who tells me about a very curious letter to him from Hans [von B low], regarding a musical compostion of his [Manfred-Meditation] which our friend sent to Hans (rather to our amazement). [....] I [...] write [...] to Prof. N. [...]
57512-25-72[Letter] of good wishes from Prof. Nietzsche [...]
57901-01-73New Year activities; various things by mail, among them a folder of manuscripts from Prof. Nietzsche containing forewords to unwritten books ["F nf Vorreden zu f nf ungeschriebenen B chern" (Five Prefaces to Five Unwritten Books)].
57901-03-73Prof. Nietzsche's manuscript also does not restore our spirits, there are now and again signs of a clumsy abruptness, however deep the underlying feelings. We wish he would confine himself principally to classical themes.
58001-06-73In the night thought much again about the nature of art, in consequence of Prof. N.'s forewords [...]
59002-01-73(Prof. Nietzsche sends R. a paper on Hesiod ["Der Florentinische Tractat ber Homer und Hesiod, ihr Geschlecht und ihren Wettkampf" (in: Rheinisches Museum f r Philologie NF 28: 211-49, Frankfurt a. M.: 1873)].)
59302-07-73Dinner with the Wesendoncks, dispute over [David Friedrich] Strauss's book The Old and New Faith, which R. and I found terribly shallow, but which Frau W. admires.
59302-09-73Kahnt's journal [Neue Zeitschrift f r Musik] announces a competition for the best essay on Der Ring des Nibelungen; the judges will be Karl Simrock in Bonn, the Germanist Dr. Moritz Heyne, and friend Nietzsche, and the prize is a certificate of patronage.
61904-05-73R. says, "I have begun the day with a witticism; I shall propose to the friends we are expecting tomorrow, Nietzsche and Rohde, that I take them on a walk to the sources of the Iamblichus." [Allusion to Rohde's Die Quellen des Iamblichus in seiner Biographie des Pythagoras (Iamblichus's sources in his Biography of Pythagoras): Wagner is referring jokingly to the twin sources of the river Main, both in the vicinity of Bayreuth.]
62004-06-73[...] Prof. Nietzsche and Rohde [...] arrive [....] Discussions about the theater in the evening, R. reads his latest essay.
62004-07-73[...] R. goes with our friends to the theater [....] At lunch the two professors, the mayor, and the dean, who makes a fine speech to the three "men of the future," as he calls R. and his two young friends—what awaits them in joy and sorrow. Very affecting. [....] In the evening Prof. Nietzsche reads us a new and interesting paper about the philosophers before Plato. [Nietzsche's May 1873 lecture, "The Pre-Platonic Philosophers."]
62004-08-73Our friends stay for the afternoon and evening [....] In the evening continuation of the reading [of Nietzsche's lecture on "The Pre-Platonic Philosophers"].— Prof. Nietzsche tells me of a Prof. Paul Lagarde who, on account of a book on church and state [Ueber das Verh ltnis des deutschen Staates zu Theologie, Kirche und religion: ein Versuch nichttheologen zu orientieren (G ttingen: Dieterich, 1873)], has been completely ostracized.
62104-09-73In the evening we had intended to devote ourselves to to Prof. N's work on the philosophers R. jokingly calls "the sons of Thales," i.e., Anaximander, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, but our talk led us so deeply into our experiences with regard to the Bayreuth undertaking that our gloomy mood could not be dispelled.— R. plays the end of G tterd mmerung—and that certainly makes all our cares vanish into thin air.
62104-11-73In the evening Prof. N. reads the conclusion of an essay. Not much conversation. Played Loewe ballads. We are a little vexed by our friend's [i.e., Nietzsche's] music-making pastimes, and R. expatiates on the turn music has taken.
62204-12-73Last day with our friends [Nietzsche and Rohde] [...]
62704-28-73[...] Prof. Nietzsche is preparing an essay attacking D[avid Friedrich] Strauss, and he has recommended to Fritzsch a theological work by Prof. [Franz] Overbeck, which no publisher is willing to take on, because of its frankness. [Ueber die Christlichkeit unserer heutigen Theologie: Streit- und Friedensschrift. Published by Fritzsch in 1873.]
64106-01-73(Wrote to Herr v. Gersdorff, who has told me about a serious eye complaint affecting our friend Nietzsche [...])
64306-05-73As we part, R. says to me: "Are you now fetching your blanket? But you only do that when Nietzsche is here." Tender memories of those times.
66308-08-73Prof. Nietzsche's pamphlet attacking [David Friedrich] Strauss has arrived, reading it eagerly. [....] In the evening read Nietzsche's Strauss; R. remarks that on top of everything else the glorification of philistinism is copied from the English.
66408-13-73My remarks about our friend Nietzsche's essay bring us to the subject of German style, and R. says that in school one should learn above all to speak properly, then writing would come of its own accord.
66608-20-73In the evening read Nietzsche's pamphlet to our friend and am sorry to get from it an unpleasant impression of various things.
67809-20-73Letter to R. from Prof. Nietzsche, after a long silence; but his eye trouble is not yet cured.
67909-22-73R. replies to Prof. Nietzsche, on whose pamphlet there is a nice article in the A.A.Z. [Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung.]
68009-25-73In the evening R. has his Thursday gathering and reads aloud to the good people—somewhat to their dismay—two chapters from Nietzsche's pamphlet.
68009-28-73[...] an all-but-angry interchange with Ottilie [Brockhaus, Wagner's sister] concerning Prof. Nietzsche; she is so bound up in university ways that she talks about the book The Birth of Tragedy without stopping to consider that N. has jeopardized his whole career for the sake of her brother, and that it is therefore insensitive of her to pass on to us the contemptuous and libelous opinions of the top academics. I see from the sentiments of W.'s sister toward her brother's most loyal supporter how even the warmest heart can cool when it is constantly confronted with power!
68310-05-73R. praises in Nietzsche's work his remark about the "seekers" [see David Strauss: the Confessor and the Writer, 2]—we do not have any classical figures, i.e., no flourishing period, after which a line could be drawn. "They all console themselves with the word 'Epigonentum' [epigonism] and are fortified in their slovenliness."
69110-28-73Prof. Nietzsche sends us his "Appeal to the Germans" but who will be prepared to sign it? ...
69210-30-73In the afternoon a meeting in the street wih Prof. Nietzsche. He, completely outlawed, tells us unbelievable things: that the International is reckoning him as one of their own, encouraged in that direction by a writer ["B. F."] in Die Grenzboten, whose article, entitled "Herr [Friedrich] Nietzsche and German Culture," exceeds all bounds and actually denounces our friend!
69210-31-73Went through Prof. Nietzsche's very fine "Appeal" with him. Is it wise to issue this—but what use is wisdom to us? Only faith and truth can help.
69311-01-73Lunch with Prof. N., friend [Emil] Heckel, and Malwida [von Meysenbug], very nice and cheerful. In the afternoon we go to the theater, which looks splendid. In the evening the same company, plus Dr. [Ernst] Stern; R. in very gay mood. Then, in all seriousness, he talks about the German language, its arrested development, the great intellects searching around for foreign models—"Is it still possible now to return to the source, to think again about the wealth of inflections, etc.?"— Friend Nietzsche tells us all sorts of dismal things about the position of the excellent Fritzsch [N.'s publisher], his health, and the state of his business. Our friend also relates how he is being tormented in connection with the International, a Frau Nilsson, a friend of [Giuseppe] Mazzini's announced herself to him as a servant of the cult of Dionysus, she wants to advance Fritzsch money and if possible also to take over his business. Our friend greatly agitated by these curious happenings! He showed the importunate woman the door, she threatened him, etc.— Our Prof. Rohde in Kiel has been advised that he will never become a full professor. Curious situation.
69411-02-73Departure of friend Nietzsche, who is causing us profound concern.
71212-04-73[...] we read H lderlin's Hyperion—Malwida has given R. his works. R. and I recognize with some concern the great influence this writer has had on Prof. Nietzsche; rhetorical extravagance, incorrect and clotted imagery (the north wind which scorches the blossoms, etc.), but a fine, noble intellect, though R. says he cannot really believe in such neo-Greeks—he is constantly expecting him to say suddenly: I studied in Halberstadt, etc.
71701-04-74R. had a restless night and is indisposed. On top of this Prof. Overbeck pays us a visit, and I have to receive and look after him alone until R. joins us in the evening. The learned man makes a good impression on us, but he does not have particularly good news to tell of our friend Nietzsche's health.
73502-22-74In the evening we read Nietzsche's recently arrived book on the uses of history [Vom Nutzen und Nachtheil der Historie f r das Leben (On the Use and Abuse of History for Life)]; it starts off in a very abstract way and consequently seems somewhat arbitrary.
73502-23-74We continue with our friend's book and delight in it—great courage, great fervor, very acute judgment. R.'s example has opened his eyes to the triviality of the whole modern world.
73502-24-74In the evening finished the book with great interest.
73502-25-74Our friend's treatise forms the topic of our conversation, the fiery wit with which it is written is quite astonishing.
74303-20-74In the morning a letter to Prof. Nietzsche about his treatise.
74804-04-74Some letters; governess affairs, and a very melancholy one from our friend Nietzsche, who is tormenting himself. R. exclaims, "He should either marry or write an opera, though doubtless the latter would be such that it would never get produced, and so would not bring him into contact with life."
75004-09-74In the morning R. reads the latest work [On the Use and Abuse of History for Life] by our friend Nietzsche and summarizes his opinion thus: "It is the work of a very significant person, and if he ever becomes famous, this work will one day also earn respect. But it is very immature. It lacks plasticity, because he never quotes examples from history, yet there are many repetitions and no real plan. This work has been brought out too quickly. I don't know anybody to whom I could give it to read, because nobody could follow it. The basic idea has already been stated by Schopenhauer, and N. would have done much better to throw light on it from a pedagogical point of view."
77908-05-74In the afternoon a note tells us that Prof. Nietzsche is here, but lying ill in his hotel, the Sonne. R. goes there and brings him back to our house at once. He soon recovers, and we spend a cheerful evening together. But what he tells us about the newspapers and about university people is horrifying.
77908-06-74Prof. Nietzsche tells us about a publisher [Ernst Schmeitzner] in Schloss-Chemnitz who has offered his services; he is said to be connected with the Social Democratic party, but all the same, both N. and Prof. Overbeck are accepting his offer, since they could not hope to find any other publisher in the whole of Germany; indeed, if they were to give up their professorships, they would probably be without bread, for not even a position as private tutor would be open to them. The Neue Freie Presse introduces an article ["Ueber historisches Wissen und historischen Sinn," in: Neue Freie Presse, Nr. 3542 and 3544 on July 7 and 9, 1874] by Karl Hillebrand on Nietzsche's book about history with the remark that it is only out of respect for their distinguished contributor that they pay heed to the work of an author who has sufficiently branded himself through his attack on Strauss, etc.— Prof. N. says that in Berlin Herr Du Bois-Reymond has made a proposal for setting up an academy, and in it describes Goethe as having ruined the German language, in contrast to Lessing! [....] Our friend N. brings along the Triumphlied by Brahms, and R. laughs loudly at the idea of setting such a word as Gerechtigkeit [justice] to music.
78008-07-74Breakfast with our friends in the summerhouse, conversation about Berlioz [...]
78008-08-74In the afternoon we play Brahms Triumphlied, much dismay over the meager character of this composition which even friend Nietzsche has praised to us: Handel, Mendelssohn, and Schumann wrapped in leather. R. very angry, he talks about his longing one day to find in music something that expresses Christ's transcendence, something in which creative impulse, an emotion which speaks to the emotions, can be seen.
78008-14-74Friday the 14th [...] on the following day Prof. N. departed, having caused R. many difficult hours. Among other things, he maintains that the German language gives him no pleasure, and he would rather talk Latin, etc. R. mentions his own rules for treating the German language, says one should first look to see whether a foreign term is completely necessary to express the sense; if it is, then use it boldly, and untranslated.
78108-15-74Saturday the 15th. Prof. Overbeck, whose visit we heartily welcome, tells us about a publisher, [Ernst] Schmeitzner, who is just opening business in Chemnitz, and whom he likes very much. R. has the idea that he might move here and use Bayreuth as his firm's address. Heard dismal things about the situation of our friend N., who has to lecture on the entire history of Greek literature to three or four of the least capable students! The university has virtually excommunicated him.
78409-01-74In the evening read Karl Hillebrand's article on Nietzsche's book in the Neue [Freie] Presse. Some good things briefly stated, many stupid ones at length. "It takes a lot to believe in the Germans," says R.
80310-12-74R. sends C[onstantin] Frantz a number of pamphlets (Nietzsche, etc.) to show him that he does not belong to the National Liberals!
79610-23-74While R. goes off for a rest, I begin reading Prof. Nietzsche's paper Schopenhauer as Educator, which R. has already read and which absorbs us to the highest degree. In the evening I read some of it out loud to R.
79610-25-74R. works; I feel rather unwell and take advantage of the children's day off work to rest and to finish Prof. Nietzsche's fine paper.
84605-15-75[ ...] a very fine [letter] from friend Nietzsche about G tterd mmerung.
88901-21-76More and more we are considering, R. and I, the question of education; thoughts of establishing a model school, with Nietzsche, Rohde, Overbeck, Lagarde. Could the King be induced to sponsor it? ...
91407-00-76Arrival of Malwida Meysenbug and a splendid piece by Nietzsche, R[ichard] Wagner in Bayreuth.
91607-21-76Nice telegram from the King, thanking us for the Nietzsche pamphlet [Richard Wagner in Bayreuth].
91607-24-76Prof. Nietzsche has [...] arrived.
92710-15-76[...] reading Nietzsche's paper again [...]
92910-24-76Visit from Malwida, who is looking for an apartment for friend Nietzsche and inspects several houses.
93010-27-76[...] a visit from Malwida, Dr. [Paul] R e, and our friend Nietzsche, the latter very run down and much concerned with his health.
93111-01-76In the evening we are visited by Dr. R e, whose cold and precise character does not appeal to us; on closer inspection we come to the conclusion that he must be an Israelite.
93111-02-76[...] the evening we spend with our friends Malwida and Prof. Nietzsche.
93812-24-76Nice letter from Prof. Nietzsche, though informing us that he now rejects Schopenhauer's teachings! ... [Sorrento, December 19, 1876: Letter to Cosima Wagner: "[...] werden Sie sich wundern, wenn ich Ihnen eine allm hlich entstandene, mir fast pl tzlich in's Bewu tein getretene Differenz mit Schopenhauer's Lehre eingestehe? Ich stehe fast in allen allgemeinen S tzen nicht auf seiner Seite; schon als ich ber Sch. schrieb, merkte ich, da ich ber alles Dogmatische daran hinweg sei; mir lag alles am Menschen." ([...] will you be astonished if I tell you that I have to confess a difference that I have with Schopenhauer's teaching, a difference that developed quite gradually, but of which I have suddenly become aware? In terms of almost all his general claims I do not take his side; even while I was writing about Sch[openhauer], I noticed that I was already beyond all questions of dogma. For me, what was important was the human being.)]
98810-13-77Friend Nietzsche sends us a nice manuscript by a Dr. [Otto] Eiser in Frankfurt; but has only bad things to report about his health.
98910-23-77In the afternoon [R.] writes a long letter to Dr. Eiser in Frankfurt, who wrote a detailed report about our friend Nietzsche's state of health. R. says, "He (N.) is more likely to listen to the friendly advice of a medical man than to the medical advice of a friend."
100112-02-77We continue for a long time to talk about the poet, who sees, feels, and describes absolutely everything, without ever giving a sign of his own feelings. We think of friend Nietzsche, who rebelled against Sh[akespeare]: "He always demands a certain kind of form," says R., "and this is a malformation of sublimity and revelation."
EXCERPTS FROM VOLUME 2. 1878-1883.
5303-30-78The Greek lyric poets remind [R.] of Nietzsche's "extraordinary" outpourings about these very poems.
6504-25-78At noon arrival of a new book [Human, All Too Human] by friend Nietzsche feelings of apprehension after a short glance through it; R. feels he would be doing the author a favor, for which the latter would one day thank him, if he did not read it. It seems to me to contain much inner rage and sullenness, and R. laughs heartily when I say that Voltaire, here so acclaimed [Nietzsche dedicated Human, All Too Human to Voltaire], would less than any other man have understood The Birth of Tragedy.
6604-27-78Firm resolve not to read friend Nietzsche's book [Human, All Too Human], which seems at first glance to be strangely perverse.
6704-29-78We find it hard not to speak now and again about friend N.'s sad book [Human, All Too Human], although both of us can only surmise its contents from a few passages, rather than really know it!
6704-30-78N.'s pitiful book [Human, All Too Human] makes [R.] exclaim to me, "We shall remain true to each other."
7605-23-78R. has written to Prof. Overbeck, thanking him for his nice letter; in it he mentions N. and says meaningfully that he hopes Nietzsche will one day thank him for not having read his book [Human, All Too Human].
7905-28-78R. wanted to amuse himself by sending Prof. Nietzsche a telegram of congratulations on Voltaire's birthday [Nietzsche dedicated Human, All Too Human to Voltaire], but I advise him against it and recommend silence here, as in many other things.
8005-30-78Over coffee he [R.] comes back to Prof. Nietzsche and his book [Human, All Too Human], which seems to him so insignificant, whereas the feelings which gave rise to it are so evil.
9006-09-78(Our poor friend Hagen [Edmund von Hagen (1850-1907): German philosopher, and writer on Wagner] seems to be insane. Nietzsche's book [Human, All Too Human] is causing our friends a lot of embarrassment.)
9306-12-78A visit in the evening from our poor friend Hagen, who, in reply to my calm questioning, seriously maintains that a 4th-dimensional being is upsetting his mind. R. tries to convince him that everything happens inside us and there are no attacks from outside, but I fear it is in vain. "I have nice supporters," R. says with a laugh. "I should have liked to see Hagen and Nietzsche going for a walk together!"
10006-24-78R. reads some of Nietzsche's latest book [Human, All Too Human] and is astonished by its pretentious ordinariness. "I can understand why [Paul] R e's company is more congenial to him than mine." And when I remark that to judge by this book N.'s earlier ones were just reflections of something else, they did not come from within, he says, "And now they are R e-flections!"
10006-25-78R. had a good night; he goes for a walk in the palace gardens with children and dogs and then takes a rest with Prof. Nietzsche's book [Human, All Too Human], the trivial contents of which thoroughly disgust him.
10106-26-78[R.] continues reading Prof. N.['s book Human, All Too Human].
10206-26-78In the evening we read a little about poor N. ("it does me no great honor to be praised by such a one") [....]
10306-27-78N.'s book [Human, All Too Human] provokes R. into saying playfully, "Oh, art and religion are just what is left in human beings of the monkey's tail, the remains of an ancient culture!"
10306-28-78[R.] rests, reads Nietzsche['s Human, All Too Human].
10306-29-78[R.'s] cure is proving a strain to him, he complains of buzzing in the ears. I am sorry that while taking it he is reading N.'s bad book [Human, All Too Human], although he maintains that this is not affecting him.
103f.06-29-78The enclosed witticism from my father [Franz Liszt. Unknown reference.] gives him much pleasure. "That is priceless," he says, "one can say of your father that he is free" (alluding to N[ietzsche]) "imperturbable in the zigzag of his life." Still referring to the book [Human, All Too Human], whose ending he reads to me in almost lyrical tones, R . says, "To be blind and not to believe in anything inside one that is bad." [See Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, 638 (Human, All Too Human, 638).]
10507-01-78[Nietzsche's] publisher [Ernst] Schmeitzner really has printed extracts from N.'s book [Human, All Too Human] as a supplement to the B[ayreuter] Bl tter. Herr L[evi] feels [Hermann Levi (1839-1900), who conducted Wagner's Parsifal in Bayeuth in 1882] that a man like N. is too good for that, and R. laughs over the qui pro quo.
10607-03-78In the evening R. comes back to N[ietzsche]; it is not so easy to ignore, R. feels: the circle is too small for one not to keep coming back to the same experiences.
12007-24-78R. talks with restrained anger about Nietzsche's assumption of our failure here, and the inference he draws that we no longer reflect the needs of our time, whereas in fact the attempt has never been made, for the very reason that those in need of it are poor and helpless.
12307-27-78R. talks in disgust about Nietzsche's denial of inspiration as shown by the Beethoven sketchbooks; it would be better, he says, if such sketches were not published as if the search for a form for a particular inspiration were a denial of its existence! [See Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, 155 (Human, All Too Human, 155).]
12808-02-78Through this R. comes to Nietzsche, of whom he says: "That bad person has taken everything from me, even the weapons with which he now attacks me. How sad that he should be so perverse so clever, yet at the same time so shallow!"
13808-18-78In the evening R. reads to me the passage in Opera and Drama about Antigone; when I express to him my admiration for this work, R. says, "I was completely obsessed with it at the time, I could not have composed a single note of music, so absorbed was I in it." Our poor friend Nietzsche seems to have got quite a lot of his ideas on humanity from it.
19311-09-78At breakfast, when [R.] returns to the subject of [Ernst] Renan and I tell him I cannot imagine any of the present famous German writers being able to formulate such thoughts, he says, "They are too difficult, too much concerned with 'progress.'" But then he adds, "Nietzsche could have done it." I tell him that Nietzsche has requested that the Bl tter not be sent to him. "I'm glad he has taken it to heart," R. says.
22212-09-78In the morning R. comes to the subject of original sin, saying, with reference to Nietzsche's assertion that all are innocent, that this is correct as regards operare, but the sin lies in existence itself, the will to live, and the God without sin is the one for whom life is a sacrifice, and his life in consequence becomes a revelation. [See Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, 107 (Human, All Too Human, 107).]
25001-08-79A letter from E[lisabeth] Nietzsche brings back to us our experiences with her brother. The news that he, N., wants Parsifal to be staged makes R. smile bitterly [....]
26101-28-79Later a nice letter from E[lisabeth] Nietzsche brings the conversation around to her brother's dismal book [Human, All Too Human], and R. remarks that, when respect vanishes, everything else vanishes, too: "That is the true definition of religion; unlike Jesus Christ, I cannot be without sin, but I can respect the sinless state, can beg pardon of my ideal when I am disloyal to it. But our times have no feeling for greatness, they cannot recognize a great character. There can be no bond with it."
27203-01-79The children well, but at times my impressions seem to overwhelm me, after lunch I have to lie down; I come around only very gradually and write to E[lisabeth] Nietzsche about her brother's book [Human, All Too Human].
280f.03-22-79Yesterday, before we began to play cards, the vision of Nietzsche's behavior rose once more in [R.'s] mind. He said, "N. wrote his thoughts out of season, thus acknowledging that what he admires does not belong in our time but goes beyond it, and now he uses the fact that my enterprise is out of season to criticize it! Can one imagine anything worse than that?"
303f.05-07-79When I come down to supper, [R.] says, "I have been pursuing philology." He has looked to see how the passage in which Luther translates the word "barbaros" as "undeutsch" appears in Greek, Latin, English, and French French the least felicitous with the abstract word "barbare," which is also so ambiguous, the English somewhat better; but Luther is splendid! R. cannot stress too strongly what this touch means to him; he returns to it once more late in the evening and says: "These young people! Do you remember how I once showed that passage to [Erwin] Rohde and Nietzsche, and they saw nothing in it? Such lack of understanding and imagination!"
30805-15-79Then we talk about some past experiences, our Tribschen guests, Nietzsche, [Erwin] Rohde, etc., how miserably they failed us.
36209-09-79 In the evening Rub[enstein] [Josef Rubinstein (1847-1884): Russian pianist and composer] brings the conversation around to Nietzsche, and, reflecting on this whole experience, R. becomes very upset, he cannot get over the perversity of such a character.
37410-01-79[R.] reads something from Herr v. Hagen's book, I note in it the quotation from Nietzsche and have to acknowledge in tears what we have lost in him. [See Edmund von Hagen, Richard Wagner als Dichter in der zweiten Scene des Rheingold. M nchen: Kaiser, 1879. Hagen quotes twice from Nietzsche's Richard Wagner in Bayreuth, 11. The Hagen citations (the second in which he paraphrases Nietzsche) appear on pages XVIII-XIX, and page 36.

Pages XVIII-XIX: "Professor Friedrich Nietzsche1 hat daher das volle Recht, die Geschlechter jetzt lebender Menschen im Hinblick auf den 'Ring des Nibelungen' zu fragen: (Professor Friedrich Nietzsche1, with regard to the "Ring of the Nibelung," therefore has every right to ask the generations of people living today:) // '[Und nun fragt euch selber, ihr Geschlechter jetzt lebender Menschen!] Ward dies f r euch gedichtet? Habt ihr den Muth, mit eurer Hand die Sterne dies ganzen Himmelsgew lbes von Sch nheit und G te zu zeigen und zu sagen: es ist unser Leben, das Wagner unter die Sterne versetzt hat? ("[And now ask yourselves, you generations of people living today!] Was this created for you? Do you have the courage to point to the stars in the entire firmament of beauty and goodness and say: it is our life that Wagner has set among the stars?) // Wo sind unter euch die Menschen, welche das g ttliche Bild Wotan's sich nach ihrem Leben zu deuten verm gen und welche selber immer gr er werden, je mehr sie, wie er, zur cktreten? (Where are the people among you who are able to interpret the divine image of Wotan according to their own life and who themselves grow ever greater the more they, like him, withdraw?) // Wer von euch will auf Macht verzichten, wissend und erfahrend, da die Macht b se ist. (Which of you will renounce power, knowing and experiencing that power is evil.) [Probably influenced by Jacob Burckhardt. See KGW IV/4, p. 159.] // Wo sind Die, welche wie Br nnhilde aus Liebe ihr Wissen dahingeben und zuletzt doch ihrem Leben das allerh chste Wissen entnehmen: (Where are those who, like Br nnhilde, relinquish their knowledge out of love and yet ultimately learn from their life the most supreme knowledge:) // Trauernder Liebe (Sorrowful love) / tiefstes Leiden (Deepest suffering) / schlo die Augen mir auf. (Opened my eyes.) [A line spoken by Brunhilde that Wagner removed from the concluding scene of Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods). See KGW IV/4, p. 159.] // Und die Freien, Furchtlosen, in unschuldiger Selbstigkeit aus sich Wachsenden und Bl henden, die Siegfriede unter euch? (And where are the free, fearless ones, those who in innocent selfhood grow and blossom out of themselves, the Siegfrieds among you?) // Wer so fragt und vergebens fragt, der wird sich nach der Zukunft umsehen m ssen; und sollte sein Blick in irgend welcher Ferne gerade noch jenes 'Volk' entdecken, welches seine eigene Geschichte aus den Zeichen der Wagnerischen Kunst herauslesen darf, so versteht er zuletzt auch, was Wagner diesem Volke sein wird: Etwas, das er uns allen nicht sein kann, n mlich nicht der Seher einer Zukunft, wie er uns vielleicht erscheinen m chte, sondern der Deuter und Verkl rer einer Vergangenheit.' (Anyone who asks thus and asks in vain will have to look towards the future; and if his gaze should discover somewhere in the distance precisely that "folk" who can discern their own history in the signs of Wagnerian art, then he will ultimatey understand what Wagner will be for this folk: something that he cannot be to all of us, namely not the seer of the future, as he would perhaps like to appear to us, but the interpreter and transfigurer of the past." [A preliminary draft of this paragraph by Nietzsche has a different ending: "F r uns ist er der Seher und Wegweiser: der Sp teren wird er der Deuter der Vergangenheit sein. Vereinfacher der Geschichte." (For us he is the seer and guide: for people of the future he will be the interpreter of the past. Simplifier of history.)]) // [Footnote:] 1. Friedrich Nietzsche. Unzeitgem e Betrachtungen. Viertes St ck: Richard Wagner in Bayreuth. Schlo -Chemnitz. 1876. S. 97 f." (Friedrich Nietzsche. Untimely Meditations. Part Four: Richard Wagner in Bayreuth. Schlo -Chemnitz. 1876. p. 97f.)

Page 36: "Endlich ekelt es Wotan vor der Macht, nach welcher er ged rstet hat, welche aber in ihrem Quell das B se birgt. Sein Wille bricht sich; er selber verlangt nach dem Ende, welches ihm droht." (Then finally Wotan is disgusted by the power for which he thirsted, but which contains evil in its source. His will breaks, he himself longs for the ending that threatens him.) Von Hagen paraphrases Nietzsche's Richard Wagner in Bayreuth, 11: "Da ekelt ihn endlich vor der Macht, welche das B se und die Unfreiheit im Schoosse tr gt, sein Wille bricht sich, er selber verlangt nach dem Ende, das ihm von ferne her droht." (Then finally power disgusts him, which bears evil and bondage in its womb, his will breaks, he himself longs for the ending that threatens him from afar.)]
37410-02-79Before [playing] whist a quotation from Nietzsche's book [Human, All Too Human] in Hagen [see above note for Hagen, p. 36] again leads to astonishment over this fall from grace; I believe that here was committed the one sin which cannot be atoned for the sin against the Holy Ghost. No words would be more moving than those contained in this quotation.
38210-19-79R. writes to Prof. [Franz] Overbeck for news of friend Nietzsche.
38510-26-79Letter from Prof. [Franz] Overbeck about the wretched state of Nietzsche's health and not to be permitted to do anything, let alone to be able to!
39911-20-79Herr [Friedrich] Sch n's appeal leads us to read Nietzsche's "Appeal to the Germans" [Mahnruf an die Deutschen] again; R. does not care for its all-too-Thucydides-like opening, but he shares my admiration for it as a whole, and we resolve to call on R[iedel]. [Carl Riedel (1827-1888): German conductor and composer.]
41812-28-79Yesterday evening [R.] read to me some passages from poor Nietzsche's new book [The Wanderer and His Shadow], and E. Schur 's saying about "nihilisme coeurant" ["nauseating nihilism"] came into his mind. [In his 03-10-1881 letter to Nietzsche, Heinrich K selitz stated that Carl von Gersdorff told him that the French music critic duord Schur (1841-1929) had written a letter to Richard Wagner, in which he described Nietzsche's "jetzigen Meinungen als 'herzbrecherischen Nihilismus' (nihilisme coeur )" (current opinions as "heartbreaking nihilism" (nihilisme coeur ).) coeur actually means "disheartening" or "nauseating."] "To feel nothing but scorn for such a noble and compelling figure as Jesus Christ!" R. exclaims indignantly. [See Der Wanderer und sein Schatten, 83 (The Wanderer and His Shadow, 83).] He continues with it today and reads several more things (about Faust, for instance) which are horrifying. [See Der Wanderer und sein Schatten, 42, 124 (The Wanderer and His Shadow, 42, 124).]
427f.01-16-80[R.] comes to the subject of Nietzsche, who, out of sheer malice toward him, distorts the passage he wrote in his Beethoven about the way B. listened to folk melodies, [See Der Wanderer und sein Schatten, 152 (The Wanderer and His Shadow, 152).] and he did it just in order to denigrate R., "ignoring the fact that Beethoven was the greatest melodist who ever lived. The way he took a folk tune and gave it back to the people, transfigured it was like the condescension of a god, like the unknown maiden appearing to the shepherd. And to rank him on that account somewhere below Schubert! What Schubert was, B. had long known all about. Disgraceful and so stupid!" [See Der Wanderer und sein Schatten, 155 (The Wanderer and His Shadow, 155).]
462f.04-06-80I told R. about a visit I paid to a milliner and the ridiculously exaggerated prices now demanded for articles of clothing, and the impossibility of wearing them for long. R. is reminded in this connection of Nietzsche, who for him represents French fashions: "Just to liberate himself from me, he succumbs to all available platitudes!" In the evening a catalogue of an autograph collection, containing H lderlin's letter to Schiller; remembering that H lderlin was N[ietzsche]'s favorite poet [....]
50507-05-80Before dictating [R.] tells me that wherever he turns he hears Nietzsche speaking; his judgment on Beethoven is a disgrace, he says, and also on the Jews. [See Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, 475 (Human, All Too Human, 475).]
62102-12-81In the evening we read [Heinrich von] Stein's article and find it very good; his character gladdens us, and by contrast we think of Nietzsche's!
705f.08-14-81R. comes over, looks at the photographs of the Sistine Chapel, recalls Nietzsche's childish and malicious remarks about it: "How bad a person can be, just in order to make an impression!"
70808-19-81In the evening [R.] plays and sings An die entfernte Geliebte [Beethoven, Op. 98] to us, greatly moving us with it. "The whole of Schubert can be found in this," he says, and that brings him on to Nietzsche's maliciousness (about Schubert and Beeth.) and the whole dismal experience!
75812-01-81[R. says,] "Ideas such as Nietzsche's have found their voice in [Jacob] Burckhardt, the Renaissance man: Erasmus, Petrarch, I hate them."
77812-28-81[....] I lack the ability to keep bad experiences in mind; with Nietzsche, for instance, I can think only of his friendly aspects [....]
79001-14-82There is talk of portraits, and [R.] says merrily that somebody should depict him with me offering him the apple of vegetarianism. I tell him that, since I heard him get so angry with Nietzsche over this subject, I have no longer had the courage to turn vegetarian. R. relates: "Yes, when he came to our house, ate nothing, said, 'I am a vegetarian,' I said to him, 'You are an ass!'"
87806-24-82We reflect how few people really read Shakespeare, and in this connection think of Nietzsche, whose strange character we sum up by saying that he possessed no real intelligence, but could be magnetized.
93810-26-82After a while [R.] wonders where Nietzsche is now Wolz[engen] told me about [Nietzsche's] latest book, Die fr hliche Wissenschaft [The Joyful Science]. "The terrible thing is," he adds, "that the people who reply to these absurdities also seem to be fools." [Hans von Wolzogen (1848-1938): editor of the Bayreuther Bl tter since 1877.]
94611-07-82One can see how bad the modern world is, says R., from the fact that promising people like Nietzsche so swiftly go to the bad in it.
98701-07-83In the morning we come I cannot remember how to Gambetta [L on Gambetta (1838-1882): French republican statesman]; we recall Die Kapitulation and the fact that Nietzsche, for instance, had no understanding of it at all. [Wagner's lurid, xenophobic, anti-French farce, "Eine Kapitulation."] R. says it is a complete lack of imagination which hinders understanding.
99201-17-83Then [R.] goes through our disloyal friendships Nietzsche, [Carl von] Gersdorff and feels we should be downright ashamed of not having been able to keep a better grip on them. And no doubt telling himself inwardly that they were not people of his sort anyway [....]
100302-03-83There is an article about Nietzsche's fr hliche Wissenschaft [The Joyful Science] in [Ernst] Schmeitzner's monthly [Internationale Monatsschrift 1, no. 11 (1882): 685 95]; I talk about it, and R. glances through it, only then to express his utter disgust with it. The things in it of any value, he says, have all been borrowed from Schopenhauer, and he dislikes everything about the man.
1003f.02-04-83Then R. comes back to Nietzsche, observes that the one photograph is enough to show what a fop he is, [Probably referring to a photograph of Nietzsche (wearing a fur coat, hat, scarf, and gloves) that Nietzsche sent to Cosima ca. End March 1871. The fur coat was borrowed from Franz Overbeck. Read Cosima's 1871 reply, criticizing Nietzsche's pose in the photograph.] and declares him to be a complete nonentity, a true example of inability to see. [....] [Hermann] Levi tells us that Nietzsche recommended to him a "young Mozart," [Heinrich K selitz, a/k/a Peter Gast (1854-1918)] actually a thoroughly incompetent musician! This gives us food for thought! R. says to me eventually that Nietzsche has no ideas of his own, no blood of his own, it is all foreign blood which has been poured into him.
XXXXXXXX[Richard Wagner died of a heart attack in Venice on 02-13-1883.]