Okay! So. I have no further progress on the musical front to report. But I have been trying to brainstorm some Fritz/Fredersdorf interactions as a jumping-off point for discussion. And this is what I've come up with so far. (It's a hard problem!)
1) You suggested, back in discussing my draft, that if Fritz is going to be clingy, I should show that. And I agreed. And the image that's kept coming to mind since then is Fredersdorf observing Fritz is having a bad day, offering to come back some other time, and Fritz, panicky at the thought, blurting out, "You're all I've got!" Then he realizes what he said, and he covers it with, "Musically." I.e., he's the only music Fritz is allowed. Whether that's because the only time Fritz is allowed to play is when Fredersdorf is visiting (the rest of his time is economics, finance, administration, etc., and ofc religion), or whether he's not allowed to play at all, but it's another situation like Fouqué's candles, where no one checks Fredersdorf's pockets when he comes to visit, and everyone goes mysteriously deaf when he's heard playing his own flute in Fritz's room (and if sometimes he's much more proficient than at other times, no one considers themselves qualified to comment on that either), is up to you.
2) I agree that we need to explore or at least touch on why Fredersdorf is willing to take this risk. And it occurred to me this evening that there's that passage I quoted you in this thread, where music is one of the most common pastimes among the upper classes in Europe, a way of signaling how refined you are (FW was such a freaking outlier), but a necessity like air for Fritz. Maybe one part of the reason Fredersdorf is so drawn to Fritz, in the face of all the danger, is that Fredersdorf was expecting that he was being summoned to play for some bored royal who needs entertainment, and instead found himself in the company of a kindred spirit. Maybe he also somehow conveys that to Fritz, his surprise and the way it matters to him. Maybe that's part of why Fritz starts trusting that he's not just there for royal favor, and maybe that's when Fritz starts elevating him above the rest of his class and considering him a noble among the peasants. Maybe Fredersdorf, who plays music for a living in the army, in a country where everyone is in the army, is starved for someone else who sees music as something that gives meaning to life. Maybe it's worth all the risks to him.
3) Then I was trying to find some way of letting Fredersdorf connect to Fritz via sympathy stimulated by their parallel family relationships. And while Fredersdorf might or might not have had an older sister, he definitely had a mother. ;) And I thought, maybe, given all you and I have talked about, Fritz would be more willing to accept care from a surrogate mother, in the absence of his own, than directly from someone like Fredersdorf whom he hasn't known for very long. Then I got stalled on what exactly a peasant woman can do for a prince, even one in prison, whom she wouldn't even be able to visit in person. Food preservatives haven't been invented, and Fredersdorf isn't even from Küstrin, so it's not like she can bake something and Fredersdorf can bring it over while it's still fresh. She probably can't afford to make Fritz any kind of clothing that would make sense for her to give him. But then I had an idea, which allows Fredersdorf to take some initiative, but in a very class-appropriate kind of way.
Maaaybe, at the end of the visit, Fredersdorf mentions he'll be gone for a couple days on leave. Fritz doesn't like it at first, of course, but when he learns Fredersdorf is going out of town to visit his mother, Fritz becomes all approving. And Fredersdorf realizes Fritz misses his own mother so much it hurts. So he mentions that his mom is a great seamstress, and whenever he goes home, she redoes all the mending he's done on his clothes so that you can't even tell it's been mended any more. (This was a problem in European armies of the time: your regiment would issue you your uniform, but because of finance problems, not as often as they should have, and uniforms were worn long past their shelf life in some armies. Also, the Prussian army was an extreme stickler about appearances.) Maybe he offers Fritz, who's sitting there looking pretty shabby himself, the chance to send home with Fredersdorf whatever clothing he can spare for a few days, and Fredersdorf will bring it back looking good as new. Maybe Fritz takes him up on the offer.
THEN I remembered that brown coat. Remember the brown prisoner's coat they put on Fritz on November 6, and then marched Katte past his window to his death in a brown coat of his own, identical to Fritz's? (Obvious message being, "You better shape up, because that could be you.") And afterward, Wilhelmine reports that Fritz wore that coat until it was in rags and wouldn't give it up? I mean, it was all he had of Katte at that point, a coat and one last letter and some flashbacks. And the letter was all, "I'm not saying any of this is your fault, but I did tell you the whole escape thing was a bad idea, and also I advise you to make it up with the King and do everything he says from now on FW, I hope you're reading this, see what a good example I am, maybe a pardon?" so yeah. A coat. Which Fritz puts around his body in lieu of having Katte there to actually hold him. (Mister Possibly Touch Starved and Definitely in Need of a Hug.) And which is prisoner's garb, and therefore undoubtedly poorly made, and falling apart after being worn and clung to for months on end.
Imagine Fritz needing mother love so bad he trusts Fredersdorf with that coat. And imagine Fredersdorf bringing it back mended. Aside from the fact that I now totally hope this happened irl, at a literary level, that might go some way toward explaining why Fritz is so willing to keep Fredersdorf around: he is the closest thing Katte has to a successor, like I said earlier in this thread. And that would likewise symbolize Fritz putting together a new life, maybe not the same, but basically intact, after 1730/1731. With a new BF(F). Which Katte would totally want.
Thoughts?
Oh, while looking for the brown coat passage, I found the primary source for the townspeople of Küstrin banding together to smuggle Fritz food: it's our Wilhelmine! (The things you forget immediately after reading them, sheesh.) "The nobility of the neighbourhood took care to provide him with a plentiful table, and the French Protestant refugees of Berlin sent him linen and refreshments." I'm sure they did, because partway through the year we have records of him complaining about the inadequacy of his clothing to FW, who doesn't let him have new clothes until August. (As you saw in my chronology, lol.) So if Fredersdorf meets him early on in the year, Fritz might very well be open to some free mending from a talented peasant woman whose musical son he's starting to trust.
Re: The emails
Sent: Dec 4
Okay! So. I have no further progress on the musical front to report. But I have been trying to brainstorm some Fritz/Fredersdorf interactions as a jumping-off point for discussion. And this is what I've come up with so far. (It's a hard problem!)
1) You suggested, back in discussing my draft, that if Fritz is going to be clingy, I should show that. And I agreed. And the image that's kept coming to mind since then is Fredersdorf observing Fritz is having a bad day, offering to come back some other time, and Fritz, panicky at the thought, blurting out, "You're all I've got!" Then he realizes what he said, and he covers it with, "Musically." I.e., he's the only music Fritz is allowed. Whether that's because the only time Fritz is allowed to play is when Fredersdorf is visiting (the rest of his time is economics, finance, administration, etc., and ofc religion), or whether he's not allowed to play at all, but it's another situation like Fouqué's candles, where no one checks Fredersdorf's pockets when he comes to visit, and everyone goes mysteriously deaf when he's heard playing his own flute in Fritz's room (and if sometimes he's much more proficient than at other times, no one considers themselves qualified to comment on that either), is up to you.
2) I agree that we need to explore or at least touch on why Fredersdorf is willing to take this risk. And it occurred to me this evening that there's that passage I quoted you in this thread, where music is one of the most common pastimes among the upper classes in Europe, a way of signaling how refined you are (FW was such a freaking outlier), but a necessity like air for Fritz. Maybe one part of the reason Fredersdorf is so drawn to Fritz, in the face of all the danger, is that Fredersdorf was expecting that he was being summoned to play for some bored royal who needs entertainment, and instead found himself in the company of a kindred spirit. Maybe he also somehow conveys that to Fritz, his surprise and the way it matters to him. Maybe that's part of why Fritz starts trusting that he's not just there for royal favor, and maybe that's when Fritz starts elevating him above the rest of his class and considering him a noble among the peasants. Maybe Fredersdorf, who plays music for a living in the army, in a country where everyone is in the army, is starved for someone else who sees music as something that gives meaning to life. Maybe it's worth all the risks to him.
3) Then I was trying to find some way of letting Fredersdorf connect to Fritz via sympathy stimulated by their parallel family relationships. And while Fredersdorf might or might not have had an older sister, he definitely had a mother. ;) And I thought, maybe, given all you and I have talked about, Fritz would be more willing to accept care from a surrogate mother, in the absence of his own, than directly from someone like Fredersdorf whom he hasn't known for very long. Then I got stalled on what exactly a peasant woman can do for a prince, even one in prison, whom she wouldn't even be able to visit in person. Food preservatives haven't been invented, and Fredersdorf isn't even from Küstrin, so it's not like she can bake something and Fredersdorf can bring it over while it's still fresh. She probably can't afford to make Fritz any kind of clothing that would make sense for her to give him. But then I had an idea, which allows Fredersdorf to take some initiative, but in a very class-appropriate kind of way.
Maaaybe, at the end of the visit, Fredersdorf mentions he'll be gone for a couple days on leave. Fritz doesn't like it at first, of course, but when he learns Fredersdorf is going out of town to visit his mother, Fritz becomes all approving. And Fredersdorf realizes Fritz misses his own mother so much it hurts. So he mentions that his mom is a great seamstress, and whenever he goes home, she redoes all the mending he's done on his clothes so that you can't even tell it's been mended any more. (This was a problem in European armies of the time: your regiment would issue you your uniform, but because of finance problems, not as often as they should have, and uniforms were worn long past their shelf life in some armies. Also, the Prussian army was an extreme stickler about appearances.) Maybe he offers Fritz, who's sitting there looking pretty shabby himself, the chance to send home with Fredersdorf whatever clothing he can spare for a few days, and Fredersdorf will bring it back looking good as new. Maybe Fritz takes him up on the offer.
THEN I remembered that brown coat. Remember the brown prisoner's coat they put on Fritz on November 6, and then marched Katte past his window to his death in a brown coat of his own, identical to Fritz's? (Obvious message being, "You better shape up, because that could be you.") And afterward, Wilhelmine reports that Fritz wore that coat until it was in rags and wouldn't give it up? I mean, it was all he had of Katte at that point, a coat and one last letter and some flashbacks. And the letter was all, "I'm not saying any of this is your fault, but I did tell you the whole escape thing was a bad idea, and also I advise you to make it up with the King and do everything he says from now on
FW, I hope you're reading this, see what a good example I am, maybe a pardon?" so yeah. A coat. Which Fritz puts around his body in lieu of having Katte there to actually hold him. (Mister Possibly Touch Starved and Definitely in Need of a Hug.) And which is prisoner's garb, and therefore undoubtedly poorly made, and falling apart after being worn and clung to for months on end.Imagine Fritz needing mother love so bad he trusts Fredersdorf with that coat. And imagine Fredersdorf bringing it back mended. Aside from the fact that I now totally hope this happened irl, at a literary level, that might go some way toward explaining why Fritz is so willing to keep Fredersdorf around: he is the closest thing Katte has to a successor, like I said earlier in this thread. And that would likewise symbolize Fritz putting together a new life, maybe not the same, but basically intact, after 1730/1731. With a new BF(F). Which Katte would totally want.
Thoughts?
Oh, while looking for the brown coat passage, I found the primary source for the townspeople of Küstrin banding together to smuggle Fritz food: it's our Wilhelmine! (The things you forget immediately after reading them, sheesh.) "The nobility of the neighbourhood took care to provide him with a plentiful table, and the French Protestant refugees of Berlin sent him linen and refreshments." I'm sure they did, because partway through the year we have records of him complaining about the inadequacy of his clothing to FW, who doesn't let him have new clothes until August. (As you saw in my chronology, lol.) So if Fredersdorf meets him early on in the year, Fritz might very well be open to some free mending from a talented peasant woman whose musical son he's starting to trust.
We can do this! Spectrum or no spectrum!