It's totally my fault for not being more clear. What happened was that I was debating whether to bring this story up because it's unclear whether it happened, and also because I was running low on energy after all the write-ups I'd already done. And just when I was about to share this account and the uncertainties with you, you sent me that first draft with a different account of how they met, and I went, "...Sure! It could have happened like that." But I failed to make it clear that, whether or not he and Fritz met in Frankfurt an der Oder, my sources are pretty consistent about having him be from there, so he must have relocated.
Okay, looking back, what I said in the initial write-up was "He plays the oboe in the regiment at a town not far from Küstrin. Fritz somehow gets permission for him to come visit him." I threw a lot of information at you at a time when you were kind of whelmed, and some was bound to fall through the cracks. Anyway! I think it all worked out and what we ended up with was plausible enough. We also didn't spell out to the reader that he'd relocated specifically for this job, just that he was newly arrived in town, so nobody just reading this fic is going to wonder why he's worrying so much about Fritz and not enough about how this affects him. :D
(And indeed I wouldn't have had that whole exchange about oboe vs. flute, as presumably he would have known it was flute unless there was some bureaucratic thing where no one mentioned it to him... which... of course could have been the case :) )
I wouldn't have put it in myself, but I left it in without comment, for two reasons:
1) It allowed us to introduce to the reader the historical fact that he played the oboe at work and the flute for pleasure. 2) It's not implausible that the instructions weren't 100% clear, especially if Fritz hadn't met him before the relocation (which is the scenario our fic uses) but just said "someone find me a good flutist". In fact, Schwerin may not have been entirely sure that Fritz *didn't* also want him to play oboe; we know Fritz would play more than one instrument, especially when he was young and had the time, and maybe Fritz would have been delighted to hear his new musician play oboe as well.
Furthermore, I realize the modern US military doesn't translate perfectly to the Prussian army, but one thing that's historically been prized in a lot of armies and never more than the Prussian army is mindless obedience. Your CO says you're relocating; you're relocating. Maybe Fredersdorf got a say in it; maybe he didn't.
When we were writing this and I was thinking of Fredersdorf's relocation, I was reminded of the time my family was stationed with my dad in Japan. His tour of duty there was up, and the movers were carrying our stuff out the door when my dad got a phone call from his CO.
CO: Hey, Sergeant B, you sitting down? You might want to sit down for this. Dad: Okay... CO: You know how we told you you were moving to Kansas? We changed our minds. Dad: *watches the movers carry stuff out the door, wonders if he's going to have to tell them to bring it back* Dad: Okay. CO: You're going to New Mexico instead. Dad: Okay!
So, it ended up not being a huge difference, but it could easily have been. So I keep having this image of Fredersdorf being told, "Pack your stuff, you're moving to Küstrin tomorrow," and possibly not even being told why until he arrived.
It's quite possible he had already met Fritz when Fritz was passing through his town and knew what was up and was excited about somebody wanting him for his flute! But it's also possible he was like, "...Okay. Guess I'll find out when I get there."
Also, the way I was envisioning it, Fredersdorf was specifically told to bring his flute to play for the Prince. Then he shows up and the Prince is assuming that he plays the flute for the army, and that's when Fredersdorf realizes half the message got garbled, and he doesn't know which half. Did Fritz want the flute or did he want the instrument Fredersdorf was most proficient in? So I think it makes sense that he has the flute and no oboe with him, but then has a brief freakout (yes, I know, I had him freaking out here and you toned it down to be more zen :P) that maybe he brought the wrong one to his first day on the job. But he's in luck, because Fritz loves the flute more than most things in the world. <3
/another excerpt from the "Making of" on the Special Edition DVD. ;)
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Re: Fredersdorf gossipy sensationalism
Date: 2020-01-08 05:12 pm (UTC)Okay, looking back, what I said in the initial write-up was "He plays the oboe in the regiment at a town not far from Küstrin. Fritz somehow gets permission for him to come visit him." I threw a lot of information at you at a time when you were kind of whelmed, and some was bound to fall through the cracks. Anyway! I think it all worked out and what we ended up with was plausible enough. We also didn't spell out to the reader that he'd relocated specifically for this job, just that he was newly arrived in town, so nobody just reading this fic is going to wonder why he's worrying so much about Fritz and not enough about how this affects him. :D
(And indeed I wouldn't have had that whole exchange about oboe vs. flute, as presumably he would have known it was flute unless there was some bureaucratic thing where no one mentioned it to him... which... of course could have been the case :) )
I wouldn't have put it in myself, but I left it in without comment, for two reasons:
1) It allowed us to introduce to the reader the historical fact that he played the oboe at work and the flute for pleasure.
2) It's not implausible that the instructions weren't 100% clear, especially if Fritz hadn't met him before the relocation (which is the scenario our fic uses) but just said "someone find me a good flutist". In fact, Schwerin may not have been entirely sure that Fritz *didn't* also want him to play oboe; we know Fritz would play more than one instrument, especially when he was young and had the time, and maybe Fritz would have been delighted to hear his new musician play oboe as well.
Furthermore, I realize the modern US military doesn't translate perfectly to the Prussian army, but one thing that's historically been prized in a lot of armies and never more than the Prussian army is mindless obedience. Your CO says you're relocating; you're relocating. Maybe Fredersdorf got a say in it; maybe he didn't.
When we were writing this and I was thinking of Fredersdorf's relocation, I was reminded of the time my family was stationed with my dad in Japan. His tour of duty there was up, and the movers were carrying our stuff out the door when my dad got a phone call from his CO.
CO: Hey, Sergeant B, you sitting down? You might want to sit down for this.
Dad: Okay...
CO: You know how we told you you were moving to Kansas? We changed our minds.
Dad: *watches the movers carry stuff out the door, wonders if he's going to have to tell them to bring it back*
Dad: Okay.
CO: You're going to New Mexico instead.
Dad: Okay!
So, it ended up not being a huge difference, but it could easily have been. So I keep having this image of Fredersdorf being told, "Pack your stuff, you're moving to Küstrin tomorrow," and possibly not even being told why until he arrived.
It's quite possible he had already met Fritz when Fritz was passing through his town and knew what was up and was excited about somebody wanting him for his flute! But it's also possible he was like, "...Okay. Guess I'll find out when I get there."
Also, the way I was envisioning it, Fredersdorf was specifically told to bring his flute to play for the Prince. Then he shows up and the Prince is assuming that he plays the flute for the army, and that's when Fredersdorf realizes half the message got garbled, and he doesn't know which half. Did Fritz want the flute or did he want the instrument Fredersdorf was most proficient in? So I think it makes sense that he has the flute and no oboe with him, but then has a brief freakout (yes, I know, I had him freaking out here and you toned it down to be more zen :P) that maybe he brought the wrong one to his first day on the job. But he's in luck, because Fritz loves the flute more than most things in the world. <3
/another excerpt from the "Making of" on the Special Edition DVD. ;)