cahn | Opera for Beginners (Part 3 of 3)

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Opera for Beginners (Part 3 of 3)

I talked about Opera for Beginners for my family reunion talk and used much of the advice I was given here, thank you! :)

-I brought speakers, because there isn't much use in giving an opera talk if you can't hear the music! The hilarious thing was that I was not the only one who had audio/audiovisual components to my presentation, but I was the only one who had brought speakers. I had been a little bitter about lugging them all around Montana, but less so when they turned out to be broadly useful :) What was more irritating was that after they worked fine when I tried them out in my office, they didn't work at all for a while when I was trying to give the talk. Finally my cousin's teenager, who was acting as unofficial tech support, suggested rebooting as a last resort, and of course that worked. Sigh.

-A couple of people mentioned talking about where one might go looking for opera. My biggest recommendations to a newbie are the following:
1.The Chandos Opera in English CDs, without which I would still hate opera today. I highly highly recommend all the Mozart ones, particularly the da Ponte operas (Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte), and the bel canto comedies (e.g., Barber of Seville, The Elixir of Love), and dis-recommend their Verdi except Don Carlos (for some reason Verdi tends to come out a bit muddled). Their French opera also seems to be very good, and I absolutely adore their Eugene Onegin (which stars Thomas Hampson and Kiri te Kanawa).

2. Met On Demand, which comes with a free 7-day trial. People who know a lot about opera rag on the Met for not being adventurous in its staging and concept, which, fair, but for a beginner, in my opinion, that's exactly what you want, and you can't do better than the Met for gorgeous staging and costumes, great singers, and great videography, which I didn't even know would affect me until I started watching a bunch of these... and... it does actually make a huge difference when watching video. (Watching live is, of course, different.)

-I showed several clips, one of which was a 3-minute clip of Kaufmann/Hampson/Salminen in the auto-da-fe scene from Don Carlo. (Alagna/Keenlyside/Furlanetto is still the whole version of Don Carlo I would recommend, but for auto-da-fe out of context I thought the former was better, not least because it didn't have a giant weeping Jesus in the background.) I explained beforehand the background about how Posa is Prince Carlo's best friend but also has the relationship where he has sworn fealty to King Philip. (I have uploaded the clip here (google drive video clip, ~3 minutes) --

mildredofmidgard, I know music/opera is Not Your Thing but this is the moment in Don Carlo I was talking about, check it out) and my big triumph, as far as I am concerned, is that when the clip ended my cousin cried out, "Oh, that's so sad!" MY WORK HERE IS DONE.

-My other great triumph was that E was curious about what I said about Don Giovanni. Being her, she could not care less about Don G himself -- she was perfectly content with a limited understanding that he was the Bad Guy -- but she was particularly interested in what I said about Don G coming to a sticky end, and asked about it the next day. Once I further explained that there was a singing statue and that in many productions Don G disappeared into flames with the statue at the end, both she and A really wanted to watch it, so that afternoon we all snuggled up on the couch and watched "Don Giovanni, a cenar teco" (this one with Rodney Gilfrey) and they still ask for "the statue opera" on occasion. (That's the only part they have watched or are interested in watching, or that I am interested in playing for them, until they're a lot older. Well, okay, "O statua gentilissima," but that's along the same lines.)

-Since you guys said it was fun for people to recognize music in opera, another short clip I showed was from Thais, because, well, I don't know if it's all Koreans or just my particular family, but all our extended relatives LOOOOOVE Meditation from Thais and all of us cousins who play violin (or piano, if that cousin happened to be near one of the cousins who played violin) have had to play that song approximately six million times, every time a third cousin twice removed came to visit. There was much groaning when the melody was revealed :)

-It turns out my aunt (uncle's wife) really likes opera!!!! We are already making plans to go to Salzburg or Italy sometime and watch opera :D (well, pipe dreams right now... I certainly wouldn't go until my kids are older)

(Part 1 was where I asked for help; Part 2 was an outtake of this post about emoting in opera)

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So your take on Fredersdorff/Fritz?

I have been reminded of the existence of the term "queerplatonic partnership." That's my take on Fredersdorf/Fritz, if you ask me to speculate beyond my more methodologically rigorous "totally agnostic" answer.

Okay, so something I've been wondering about, and hoping you might know. I've seen Fredersdorf described as one of "two or three people" that Fritz used du/tu with. (Fredersdorf, always appearing on these shortlists. ;) ) Who on earth are the others, do you know? Admittedly, I haven't done a comprehensive elimination of all Fritz's correspondents, but I looked at what to me were the most obvious candidates, and couldn't find another example. He's vousing everyone I can find! (It actually made me wonder if he had a different visceral reaction to "du" than "tu", in the same way that profanity often doesn't strike you as nearly as offensive in your non-native language.)

I'm currently brushing up my Fritz knowledge by reading through a biography I hadn't read before, and though I'm only at the second Silesian war, the author has already quoted letters to several recipients where he's using du/tu - Wilhelmine (that I knew; from my recollection of their correspondance, they keep switching between tu and vous), Keyserling and in one case (the "You're my heir if I kick it in this battle" letter) August Wilhelm, though it's strictly vous with August W. on other occasions.

In any case: 18th century nobility throughout Europe was Vous/Ihr/Sie all the way, at least in writing, when talking to their nearest and dearest; Maria Theresia wrote "Vous" to Marie Antoinette throughout, and so did Joseph, though several anecdotes have it they used "du" when actually talking to her, for example.

A generation post Fritz, the explosion of German literature he so disdainfully ignored contributed to changing that. All the Sturm und Drang poets were really into calling each other Du. In literature, you have Carlos asking (very urgently) Posa to call him Du in Schiller's Don Carlos (I don't know how much of this passage made it into translation,

cahn at their first reunion in the play because he can't bear the distance of Sie/Ihr. It's a sign of their different social standing that Faust in their second encounter says Du to Gretchen already while she still says Ihr to him. (And a sign they've had sex when she switches to Du as well.) And so forth.

the author has already quoted letters to several recipients where he's using du/tu - Wilhelmine (that I knew; from my recollection of their correspondance, they keep switching between tu and vous), Keyserling and in one case (the "You're my heir if I kick it in this battle" letter) August Wilhelm, though it's strictly vous with August W. on other occasions.

Oh, interesting, thank you so much! That's what I get for spot-checking. Awesome.

18th century nobility throughout Europe was Vous/Ihr/Sie all the way, at least in writing, when talking to their nearest and dearest; Maria Theresia wrote "Vous" to Marie Antoinette throughout, and so did Joseph, though several anecdotes have it they used "du" when actually talking to her, for example.

I had noticed the predominance of vous/Sie in writing, and I had been wondering (for the purposes of my fic) how much people would code-switch their formality according to circumstance: public vs. private, written vs. spoken. It's good to know I wasn't totally off base there.

I also wondered how much to trust all the "Fritz"ing and "du"ing Katte does in Zeithain (especially given the execution scene, where all our sources report "vous" and "Katte", not "du" and "Hans"). Is my idea plausible that 18th century Katte, far enough along in their relationship, might be invited to speak that way to Crown Prince Friedrich in private, intimate moments, but would still be "vous/Your Royal Highness"ing him in all other contexts, including the execution with 150 witnesses?

At a guess, in Zeithain the author simply makes a concession to modern sensibilities and assumes the more historical ignorant of his readers would be put off by two lovers calling each other by title and last name. (I think he's wrong; Stephen Frears's film version of Dangerous Liasons was a hit here, too, and the German dubbing correctly had everyone in the cast use "Sie" for each other, including post coital moments, with the only "du" being heard was Valmont adressing his servant. It was a smash hit over here, too.)

Is my idea plausible that 18th century Katte, far enough along in their relationship, might be invited to speak that way to Crown Prince Friedrich in private, intimate moments, but would still be "vous/Your Royal Highness"ing him in all other contexts, including the execution with 150 witnesses?

IMO yes, especially since by definition no one else would have been present in private, intimate moments to record it.

At a guess, in Zeithain the author simply makes a concession to modern sensibilities

Makes sense. I found the informality off-putting, myself, to the point where I started wondering where I, who do not speak German, got off having an opinion about the language of a German novel. ;) But then I remembered that I wouldn't trust an English novelist to depict the 18th century accurately, and as you know wrt maps and borders, sometimes my familiarity with the 18th century outstrips my familiarity with the 21st!

In literature, you have Carlos asking (very urgently) Posa to call him Du in Schiller's Don Carlos (I don't know how much of this passage made it into translation, [personal profile] cahn at their first reunion in the play because he can't bear the distance of Sie/Ihr

Iiinteresting! I'm going to have to check this out. Because in my canon-compliant WIP, Fritz, who's basically single-handedly driving the relationship with Katte, invites Katte to "du/Fritz" him in private well before Katte's comfortable with it. It remains a point of mild tension in the story for a while. And this is specifically meant to signal the emotional turmoil 17/18-yo Fritz is in. (One reason Zeithain struck me as so "off" was that I'd been putting so much thought into how they address each other, and how to convey the desired message to a modern English-speaking audience, which is a non-trivial problem. Tolkien himself struggled with the question of how to signal formality or intimacy via pronouns in modern English, and mostly gave it up as a lost cause. The exceptions are interesting.)

Oh, another period question. In your opinion or from any direct evidence you have, when Prince or King Fritz is du/tu-ing a social inferior + close friend/practically husband, such as Fredersdorf or Katte, in conversation, is he necessarily also first-naming them, or could it go either way? I know intimate/formal pronouns and first/last names are sometimes coupled and sometimes decoupled, depending on the place and time, and am just wondering what our Fritz is likely doing.

Because in my canon-compliant WIP, Fritz, who's basically single-handedly driving the relationship with Katte, invites Katte to "du/Fritz" him in private well before Katte's comfortable with it.

ahahaha
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6789

CARLOS.
I understood thy hint, and thank thee for it.
A stranger's presence can alone excuse
This forced and measured tone. Are we not brothers?
In future, let this puppet-play of rank
Be banished from our friendship. Think that we
Had met at some gay masking festival,
Thou in the habit of a slave, and I
Robed, for a jest, in the imperial purple.
Throughout the revel we respect the cheat,
And play our parts with sportive earnestness,
Tripping it gayly with the merry throng;
But should thy Carlos beckon through his mask,
Thou'dst press his hand in silence as he passed,
And we should be as one.

MARQUIS.
The dream's divine!
But are you sure that it will last forever?
Is Carlos, then, so certain of himself
As to despise the charms of boundless sway?
A day will come—an all-important day—
When this heroic mind—I warn you now—
Will sink o'erwhelmed by too severe a test.
Don Philip dies; and Carlos mounts the throne,
The mightiest throne in Christendom. How vast
The gulf that yawns betwixt mankind and him—
A god to-day, who yesterday was man!
Steeled to all human weakness—to the voice
Of heavenly duty deaf. Humanity—
To-day a word of import in his ear—
Barters itself, and grovels 'mid the throng
Of gaping parasites; his sympathy
For human woe is turned to cold neglect,
His virtue sunk in loose voluptuous joys.
Peru supplies him riches for his folly,
His court engenders devils for his vices.
Lulled in this heaven the work of crafty slaves,
He sleeps a charmed sleep; and while his dream
Endures his godhead lasts. And woe to him
Who'd break in pity this lethargic trance!
What could Roderigo do? Friendship is true,
And bold as true. But her bright flashing beams
Were much too fierce for sickly majesty:
You would not brook a subject's stern appeal,
Nor I a monarch's pride!

CARLOS.
Tearful and true,
Thy portraiture of monarchs. Yes—thou'rt right,
But 'tis their lusts that thus corrupt their hearts,
And hurry them to vice. I still am pure.
A youth scarce numbering three-and-twenty years.
What thousands waste in riotous delights,
Without remorse—the mind's more precious part—
The bloom and strength of manhood—I have kept,
Hoarding their treasures for the future king.
What could unseat my Posa from my heart,
If woman fail to do it?

MARQUIS.
I, myself!
Say, could I love you, Carlos, warm as now,
If I must fear you?

CARLOS.
That will never be.
What need hast thou of me? What cause hast thou
To stoop thy knee, a suppliant at the throne?
Does gold allure thee? Thou'rt a richer subject
Than I shall be a king! Dost covet honors?
E'en in thy youth, fame's brimming chalice stood
Full in thy grasp—thou flung'st the toy away.
Which of us, then, must be the other's debtor,
And which the creditor? Thou standest mute.
Dost tremble for the trial? Art thou, then,
Uncertain of thyself?

MARQUIS.
Carlos, I yield!
Here is my hand.

CARLOS.
Is it mine own?

MARQUIS.
Forever—
In the most pregnant meaning of the word!

CARLOS.
And wilt thou prove hereafter to the king
As true and warm as to the prince to-day?

MARQUIS.
I swear!

CARLOS.
And when round my unguarded heart
The serpent flattery winds its subtle coil,
Should e'er these eyes of mine forget the tears
They once were wont to shed; or should these ears
Be closed to mercy's plea,—say, wilt thou, then,
The fearless guardian of my virtue, throw
Thine iron grasp upon me, and call up
My genius by its mighty name?

MARQUIS.
I will.

CARLOS.
And now one other favor let me beg.
Do call me thou! Long have I envied this
Dear privilege of friendship to thine equals.
The brother's thou beguiles my ear, my heart,
With sweet suggestions of equality.
Nay, no reply:—I guess what thou wouldst say—
To thee this seems a trifle—but to me,
A monarch's son, 'tis much. Say, wilt thou be
A brother to me?

MARQUIS.
Yes; thy brother, yes!

CARLOS.
Now to the king—my fears are at an end.
Thus, arm-in-arm with thee, I dare defy
The universal world into the lists.

Yep, that sounds about right!

Also, looool, Carlos's whole "#NotAllPrinces #Most #ButNotMe" could be STRAIGHT out of Fritz's mouth.

Tearful and true,
Thy portraiture of monarchs. Yes—thou'rt right,
But 'tis their lusts that thus corrupt their hearts,
And hurry them to vice. I still am pure.

He gave pretty much that same spiel on more than one occasion. :DD

when Prince or King Fritz is du/tu-ing a social inferior + close friend/practically husband, such as Fredersdorf or Katte, in conversation, is he necessarily also first-naming them, or could it go either way?

Du + last name in the 18th century: the thing is, in most circumstances I'd say this conveys greater emotional distance than Du + first name, but the exceptions are army buddies and school comrades. In both cases, Du + last name would be the normal thing, and Fritz was socialized by his father having him drill with the army from early childhood onwards. There's also the additional complication of him being so fixated on French, language wise, that it's more likely he'd follow French customs (in as much as he knew them), and well, the French were clinging to Vous far longer than the Germans to Sie and Ihr, see also Simone de Beauvour and Jean-Paul Sartre calling each other Vous all their lives. (And she called him Sartre, not Jean-Paul.) (He called her Beaver. A nickname is always an option for you, too.) (Otoh: we do know with Fredersdorf, Fritz made the effort of writing German and du, so... who knows?)

Otoh, I have the next best thing to a contemporary parallel for you with Goethe and Carl August, the Duke of Weimar - this guy.

Young Carl August: *turns 18, becomes ruling Duke of Weimar, does Peter III one better by not writing fanboy letter but making fanboy appearance in Frankfurt at ten years older Goethe's place* OMG! You're totally my idol! Best young writer in Germany! Be the Voltaire to my Fritz! Come to Weimar with me!

Goethe at 28: *has achieved early literary stardom with Götz von Berlichingen (notoriously hated by Fritz in writing) and Werther, but is Kind of over Sturm und Drang and at any rate hates the prospect of being a lawyer in Frankfurt to support himself, books not earning their writer money in the 18th century* You know… what the hell, why not. But I'm thinking less Voltaire and more Richelieu.

Consequence: early wild period, in which the young duke and no longer quite as young Goethe hit the taverns, towns and mountains in the tiny dukedom and go as far as having foursomes together, followed by sober period of Goethe becoming the most important minister in Carl August's cabinet (rest of the cabinet, all nobles: But! He's a writer from Hesse with not an ounce of noble blood!" Carl August: Shut up, he's the greatest genius alive, I just know it! And fine, now he's von Goethe, now will you obey and work with him!) and not writing much (though there are some bits, including some of his most famous Poems) for the next decade, as he really throws himself 100% into governing.

Goethe, after a decade *has Burnout*: Okay, if I'm continuing like this, I'll never be able to be foremost a writer again. Off to Italy in secret now! Sorry, Carl August. See you in two years!

Weimar: Is indignant.
Carl August: You just don't understand him. I'll continue to pay him his salary as a minister and hope I'll see him again.

Goethe, two years later: Back from Italy. I've rediscovered myself as a writer, so I won't be able to go back co-governing with you, but I'll remain in the cabinet as one of the ministers and devote two thirds to writing, a third of my time to politics from now on. That still okay with you?

Carl August: YOU'RE BACK! Sure, whatever you want. But my favourite mistress must get the lead role in your next drama.

Goethe: ...Okay.

So that was the type of relationship they had. In their official correspondance, it's "your highness" and Sie all the way, but we have enough witnesses to know that during the first wild frat boy time, it was a mutual du, and likely in later years when they were alone, it was "Hans" (for Goethe, who was Johann Wolfgang) and "Carl" still.

In his old age, Goethe wrote this poem for Carl August. My translation doesn't always manage the hexameter, but here we are:

German original:

Klein ist unter den Fürsten Germaniens freilich der meine;
Kurz und schmal ist sein Land, mäßig nur, was er vermag.
Aber so wende nach innen, so wende nach außen die Kräfte
Jeder; da wär' es ein Fest, Deutscher mit Deutschen zu sein.
Doch was priesest du ihn, den Taten und Werke verkünden?
Und bestochen erschien deine Verehrung vielleicht;
Denn mir hat er gegeben, was Große selten gewähren,
Neigung, Muße, Vertrau'n, Felder und Garten und Haus.
Niemand braucht' ich zu danken als ihm, und manches bedurft' ich,
Der ich mich auf den Erwerb schlecht, als ein Dichter, verstand.
Hat mich Europa gelobt, was hat mir Europa gegeben?
Nichts! Ich habe, wie schwer! meine Gedichte bezahlt.
Deutschland ahmte mich nach, und Frankreich mochte mich lesen.
England! freundlich empfingst du den zerrütteten Gast.
Doch was fördert es mich, daß auch sogar der Chinese
Malet mit ängstlicher Hand Werthern und Lotten auf Glas?
Niemals frug ein Kaiser nach mir, es hat sich kein König
Um mich bekümmert, und er war mir August und Mäcen.

English translation:

"Small among the princes of Germany is mine,
tiny and short his country, moderate is what he can do
But if anyone would use their power within and without
as he does, then it would be a treat to be German with Germans.
Yet what do you praise him, whom his deeds and works can describe?
Your veneration could appear bribed.
For he gave me what princes rarely provide
Affection, leisure, trust, grounds and a garden and my home.
I never was obliged to anyone for it but him, and I needed a lot,
who as a poet was bad at making a living.
If Europe praised me, what did Europe provide?
Nothing. For my poems I paid heavy fines.
Germany imitated me, and France enjoyed reading my books.
England! You were a kind host to this messed up guest.
But what did it help that even the Chinese
painted with trembling hands images of Werther and Lotte on glass?
No emperor took me in, nor did a king ever care.
He was my Augustus and Maecenas in one."

Edited 2019-09-05 09:32 (UTC)

He was my Augustus and Maecenas in one.

Awwww. <33 Quite the tribute.

Thank you for this <333333

LOL! That summary is great, as usual. We still love your summaries. Have you considered writing a book? :D

Be the Voltaire to my Fritz!

Haha, I guess that works out a lot better when the one playing Fritz is about 10000000x more chill than the original.

Carl August: YOU'RE BACK! Sure, whatever you want.

That is so cute. I could ship that.

Du + last name in the 18th century: the thing is, in most circumstances I'd say this conveys greater emotional distance than Du + first name, but the exceptions are army buddies and school comrades. In both cases, Du + last name would be the normal thing, and Fritz was socialized by his father having him drill with the army from early childhood onwards

Ooooh, see, this is the kind of nuance I need! Hmmm. And yes, the Katte/Fredersdorf parallels aren't perfect, especially given that communication is largely taking place in French in the one case and German in the other.

He called her Beaver. A nickname is always an option for you, too.

Indeed, every so often I try and fail to come up with something more original than "Cat" that's also plausible and that I like. I haven't given up yet. "Beaver", though, is an awesome nickname.

It is, and even more in French, because it's "Castor", and yes, that was meant as a mythological pun, Sartre and Beaouvoir seeing themselves as twin souls as well as lovers. (Which is why you could borrow it for surviving Katte, I suppose?)

I guess that works out a lot better when the one playing Fritz is about 10000000x more chill than the original.

In fairness, Carl August had the opposite of Fritz' childhood. His father died when he was still a baby. His mother, Anna Amalie (a niece of Fritz, btw, she was the daughter of sister Charlotte, the one whom FW imagined running his household thriftily in his retirement fantasy), became regent (as in, real regent, that abhorrence to Prussian monarchs, a woman with actual political power - over a small duchy, true, but still, she was boss), and being a lady fond of culture and patronage made his main teacher Wieland, one of the most famous German poets in the generation pre Goethe. (Anna Amalia: not sharing the tastes of Uncle Fritz. When he published his anti German literature pamphlet, she founded a journal devoted to German literature, and contributed essays herself. The big library in Weimar, one of the most beautiful in Germany, is named after her. When it burned some years ago, there was great distress, and instant pledges of renovation.) It's easier to be chill with that background. :)

Goethe/Carl August: has potential, as they were really partners through the decades, and all kididng aside, I think it's quite possible something might have happened in those early "we fell asleep in the same bed" (old Goethe to Eckermann about his early days in Weimar) days. My primary Goethe m/m ship of choice is still Goethe/Schiller, though, as it has a enemies to bffs arc, as I explain here, and there are some very juicy quotes.

omg, someone descended from the Hohenzollern actually having a decent childhood!!!! <3333

It is, and even more in French, because it's "Castor", and yes, that was meant as a mythological pun, Sartre and Beaouvoir seeing themselves as twin souls as well as lovers.

I must say that this whole discussion, plus the Vous + last name thing, is doing nothing to dispel my belief that Sartre and Beauvoir were messed up. (With the caveat that this is based not on any historical knowledge nor on reading much Beauvoir -- I've read little snippets, as one does, and found them fascinating, but have never gotten to large chunks, it's on my "one of these days" list -- but I have read Sartre on love.)

It's easier to be chill with that background. :)

Indeed, this is exactly why I keep ending comments with "I'M SORRY YOU NEVER GOT THAT THERAPIST, FRITZ!" It's soooo obvious why he could never chill. :-((( His amygdala was in clear overdrive his whole life. (Effects of trauma on psychology is one of my major interests. And "therapist" is shorthand for "the better solution would be to not have the trauma in the first place, because once the damage is done, it's really hard to fix the coping mechanisms.")

What's painfully poignant is remembering how he named his favorite palace "Carefree"*, lived a workaholic life there, pointed to his intended grave site and announced, "I'll be 'sans souci' when I'm there," put a group statue of deities of flowers and soft breezes next to his grave, and proceeded to work and micromanage and stress until his body gave out and was 205 years later put in the "carefree" place.

Fritz: I know! I'll ~~relax and listen to some music~~ stand behind the conductor and read over his shoulder while I backseat drive the entire time.

These are the words and actions of someone who lived in constant tension between wanting to chill occasionally and literally *not knowing how*.

* Somebody on tumblr pointed out that he basically named it "Hakuna Matata", which is...not wrong. But they missed the part where it was an unrealized ideal for him.

It is, and even more in French, because it's "Castor", and yes, that was meant as a mythological pun

Yep, first thing I did was go look up what "beaver" was in French, and thought it was cool. :D I keep trying to come up with a mythological nickname for Katte, but all my favorite m/m pairings would be just waaaay too heavy-handed on the foreshadowing. Pirithous? Pythias? Pylades? Patroclus? The parallels are way too close. However, remembering how fond Fritz was of giving historical Roman nicknames to all his friends, I'm starting to look in that direction and am having some ideas.

Cahn: another Fritz anecdote, while we're talking about his micromanaging style of government. Once upon a time, in his elderly years, he was riding through Berlin, and a crowd was gazing at some piece of paper that had been posted. It was a caricature of him, and I'll quote Carlyle quoting his source here because it's too good: the "King in a very melancholy guise, seated on a Stool, a Coffee-mill between his knees; diligently grinding with the one hand, and with the other picking up any bean that might have fallen." <-- Accurate caricature is accurate.

The anecdote is told to illustrate how, instead of being offended like a normal king might be, he ordered someone to move the caricature lower so the people could see it better, and the people loved him for it. (Part of Fritz's whole "freedom of speech" thing he prided himself on, which he was not as consistent about as we moderns might like, but, as usual, "fair for its time.")

His musicians, like Voltaire, love-hated him: loved him because he was such a great patron of the arts and enthusiastic participant, hated him because, yes, he really did stand over your shoulder during the entire performance making commentary, and woe unto you if you did anything he didn't like, and that was very easy to do. Composers got the same treatment. People complained that he treated his singers like soldiers, and if he said you couldn't leave the country and had to stay and perform, well, then, you'd better be prepared to come up with a more successful escape attempt from Prussia than he and Katte did. (Friiiiiitz!)

I have *opinions* about his parallels not only with Alexander the Great but with Odysseus, and it has recently come to my attention that there's a translation of the Odyssey that renders the untranslatable word "polutropos" (which, if there's a word in Greek that describes Fritz, that's it) in the first line as "complicated", as in, "Tell me about a complicated man, Muse."

Tell me about a complicated man, Mildred and Selena. ;)

ETA:
People complained that he treated his singers like soldiers, and if he said you couldn't leave the country and had to stay and perform, well, then, you'd better be prepared to come up with a more successful escape attempt from Prussia than he and Katte did.

Part of the reason when I was reading about Carl August and Goethe I was all "Whoooooaa." Voltaire was no angel when he was fleeing the country, and he has to take his 50% of the blame, but I have a hard time seeing Fritz being that chill about it even if Voltaire had just wanted to rediscover his muse.

It's almost 3 am here (woken up by sciatica), but maybe tomorrow if

selenak hasn't done one of her fantastic summaries, I'll give you "Voltaire Leaving Prussia."

Edited 2019-09-07 06:39 (UTC)

As we've explained, Voltaire and Fritz initially got on like a house on fire, when all they had to do was write letters raving about how the other one was the greatest writer or prince/king who had ever lived.

Young King Fritz: "Now, as we all know, French lang & lit >>>>>> German lang & lit. Problem is, I myself am a German. I need a Frenchman to bring me up to a higher standard of civilization!"

Voltaire: *is running out of people in Europe he hasn't already alienated*

Fritz: "Come ooooonnn, you know I love you, it'll be great! <3333 Teach me to be French!"

Voltaire: "You know how deeply disillusioned I've been with you ever since you invaded Silesia while the presses were still churning out copies of Anti-Machiavel." *frowny face*

Fritz: *puppy eyes*

Fritz: *offers of $$$$*

Voltaire: "Oh, all right, what could possibly go wrong? Frenemies forever! To Potsdam and beyond!"

Voltaire, under his breath: "As long as he pays the bills, I'll ~~correct his godawful poetry~~ clean his dirty laundry." [The part about the dirty laundry is an actual quote.]

Fritz, under his breath: "Awful human being, brilliant writer. I'll squeeze the orange and throw away the peel once I've got the juice." [The part about the orange is an actual quote, or at least Voltaire said it was.]

Voltaire: *quarrels with more people at Fritz's court than even Fritz has*

Voltaire: *finds out Fritz has been talking shit about him* "I am outraged, I tell you, outraged!"

Voltaire: *fed up with Fritz wasting aka micromanaging his time*

Voltaire: *publishes a pseudonymous set of ~~memoirs~~ tabloids suspiciously similar to his later set of ~~memoirs~~ tabloids, in which he endeavors to drag Fritz's name through the mud with accounts of his wanton homosexual lifestyle*

[I finally sorted out my confusion over Voltaire's memoirs: there were two sets! One pseudonymous and denied by him during his lifetime, one official posthumous set. Sheesh, Voltaire.

Btw, this allowed later historians and fans to no-homo Fritz on the grounds that the only evidence for his alleged homosexuality was an estranged Frenchman libeling him. Our Fritz WOULD NEVER! Meanwhile, sensible people continue to notice the vast amounts of independent evidence for Fritz's homoerotic and homoromantic inclinations, irrespective of how far he went in bed with whom or how often.]

Also Voltaire: *engages in all sorts of shady and illegal financial practices in Berlin, gets caught up in a lawsuit, alienates as many people around him as Fritz is currently doing on a grander scale in the lead-up to the Seven Years' War.*

Fritz: *has had it up to HERE with Voltaire*

Voltaire: *has had it up to HERE with Fritz*

Voltaire: *spends his last months in Prussia writing epigrams and poetry about how everyone in Prussia is terrible*

Voltaire: *finally flees the country before everyone strangles him*

5 minutes later...

Fritz: "OMG, you've got that book where I wrote poetry and epigrams about how everyone in Europe is terrible?? Give it back! That does not leave the country! That was for your eyes only! DON'T SHOW ANYONE!"

Fritz: *panic*

Voltaire: "Haha!"

Fritz: *has his agents arrest and manhandle Voltaire in a city outside Prussia where Fritz doesn't actually have the legal authority to do this* "GIVE ME BACK MY BOOK!"

Voltaire: "Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! HELP! HELP! I'm being repressed!"

Europe: *does not expect any better from either of them by now*

Europe: *popcorn.gif*

If you're getting the impression that Fritz and Voltaire didn't get along because they were SO MUCH ALIKE, well, that would be the same impression everyone ever has had after hearing this story.

Also, imagine this as my background to reading the Carl August/Goethe summary. "'Be the Voltaire to my Fritz'?? Haha, right, because that worked out so well...Oh. Oh, wow. You guys should be canonized! Sensible adults, who'd a thunk."

Also, I should just add that Voltaire's life was one long string of stories exactly like this in different settings, give or take some details. :P

Re: Voltaire in Prussia

cahn - 2019-09-09 04:54 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Voltaire in Prussia

mildred_of_midgard - 2019-09-09 17:52 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Voltaire in Prussia

mildred_of_midgard - 2019-09-09 20:12 (UTC) - Expand

Fredersdorf

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Goethe and Carl August - literary addendum

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Voltaire in Prussia

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