De binocle (translation: The opera glass) is a short story written by Louis Couperus probably in or around 1897 in Dresden.
A young Dutch-Indian journalist who is on vacation in Dresden decides to visit the Semperoper to see a performance of Wagner's Die Walküre.
During the performance, he feels an almost irresistible urge to throw the opera glass to the head of a bald man sitting in the gallery right below him.
Five years later, the same man is back again in Dresden and decides one more time to go to a performance of Die Walküre.
A few moments after the play has started, he throws the opera glass right against the head of a spectator who is sitting next to the married couple right below him.