"I believe that, in all respects, women/a woman will do him good" from one gay man about another would be boggling in most circumstances, but coming from Fritz about Heinrich, it has that special extra.
Fritz: I meant that he'd have an additonal source of income, thus providing less expenses to me, and would understand my own situation a little better. Naturally.
Biche: not sure. I mean, I know Biche, Alkmene et al. are mentioned in the Fredersdorf letters, but that's sort of the point, and I thinkAlkmene makes it into someone else's correspondance as well, though when she's ill, not dying. Also, conversely, we have the grieving letter from Wilhelmine about Folichon dying which was in my travel correspondance write up, and here we have the point of comparison because she doesn't mention it to her other correspondants. She and Fritz were clearly each other's dog people. Hence also my going "aw" when I realised - since the Bayreuth website points it out - that the statue of her in the Sanssouci Temple of Friendship shows her with Folichon.
I can kind of see why he doesn't write to anyone about Fredersdorf — he's not nobility, maybe he thinks no one will really understand?
Not nobility, and the nature of the relationship itself is almost impossible to name in contemporary terms. I mean, Voltaire isn't nobility, either (the "de Voltaire" not withstanding, he made that up as a young man, remember, he was born Francois Arouet), but loved and hated writers are their own thing, so naturally Fritz can complain about Voltaire to just about anyone and rave about Voltaire (his intellect only, natch, nope, nothing else) to just about anyone. And when someone like Eichel dies, he can go "trusted old servant, though couldn't work that much anymore through the last three years".
And of course if friends like Suhm or Rothenburg die, both of whom are nobility and acknowledged friends, he can proclaim his distress to all and sunder, it's even expected in the age of passionate friendships.
I suppose he could have written something like "word has reached me that my former valet Fredersdorf, who's been unwell for a while which is why he married A NURSE has died; he has served for for many years, and thus I was sorry to hear it". But that would have been completely inadequate in terms of rendering what he must have felt.
The "we all smoked like dragons" passage is adorable, isn't it? I also was reminded of another one, from the travel letters, where she goes, only slightly paraphrased, "I've heard we'll all be turned into glass by a comet, can't say I mind, better than becoming worm food, and I like the idea of me becoming someone's garden decoration as a glass statue afterwards". Because of all the drama dominating the family saga, it's good to get a reminder every now and then that Wilhelmine, like her brother, had a wry wit and that their personal interactions involved kidding each other and making each other smile as much as anything else.
Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version III - Three Funerals and a Wedding
Fritz: I meant that he'd have an additonal source of income, thus providing less expenses to me, and would understand my own situation a little better. Naturally.
Biche: not sure. I mean, I know Biche, Alkmene et al. are mentioned in the Fredersdorf letters, but that's sort of the point, and I thinkAlkmene makes it into someone else's correspondance as well, though when she's ill, not dying. Also, conversely, we have the grieving letter from Wilhelmine about Folichon dying which was in my travel correspondance write up, and here we have the point of comparison because she doesn't mention it to her other correspondants. She and Fritz were clearly each other's dog people. Hence also my going "aw" when I realised - since the Bayreuth website points it out - that the statue of her in the Sanssouci Temple of Friendship shows her with Folichon.
I can kind of see why he doesn't write to anyone about Fredersdorf — he's not nobility, maybe he thinks no one will really understand?
Not nobility, and the nature of the relationship itself is almost impossible to name in contemporary terms. I mean, Voltaire isn't nobility, either (the "de Voltaire" not withstanding, he made that up as a young man, remember, he was born Francois Arouet), but loved and hated writers are their own thing, so naturally Fritz can complain about Voltaire to just about anyone and rave about Voltaire (his intellect only, natch, nope, nothing else) to just about anyone. And when someone like Eichel dies, he can go "trusted old servant, though couldn't work that much anymore through the last three years".
And of course if friends like Suhm or Rothenburg die, both of whom are nobility and acknowledged friends, he can proclaim his distress to all and sunder, it's even expected in the age of passionate friendships.
I suppose he could have written something like "word has reached me that my former valet Fredersdorf, who's been unwell for a while
which is why he married A NURSEhas died; he has served for for many years, and thus I was sorry to hear it". But that would have been completely inadequate in terms of rendering what he must have felt.The "we all smoked like dragons" passage is adorable, isn't it? I also was reminded of another one, from the travel letters, where she goes, only slightly paraphrased, "I've heard we'll all be turned into glass by a comet, can't say I mind, better than becoming worm food, and I like the idea of me becoming someone's garden decoration as a glass statue afterwards". Because of all the drama dominating the family saga, it's good to get a reminder every now and then that Wilhelmine, like her brother, had a wry wit and that their personal interactions involved kidding each other and making each other smile as much as anything else.