Okay, with Darth Real Life in hot pursuit - though I will answer all the other comments, I swear - here's my quick assessment of the Burchardt edition of the Fredersdorf letters which Mildred found and uploaded.
1.) This edition has a very humble dedication to the current Czar - Nicholas - dedicating this book which shows the great, the one, the adored and feared as "a friend and a human being". Dedications of books to sovereigns were in fact on their way out about this time - 1833 is just a bit of a decade more before it's revolution time all over Europe again, including Germany - so that marks our editor as an old fashioned kind of guy.
2.) Burchardt, the editor, then gives us a biographical sketch of Fredersdorf. Said sketch starts with a massive departure from everything else we know about Fredersdorf. In this version, he's the son of a respectable merchant from Franconia, who was also trained to be a merchant when "because of his size he fell into the hands of Prussian recruiters who tricked him into changing the pen for the sword".
Now, seriously, this is all rubbish. Firstly, everyone else, including Lehndorff who actually talked with the man, says Fredersdorff hails from Pomerania, and from the back of Pomerania at that. (And from a poor background.) This is an utterly different province from Franconia. Franconia is where I come from, it's in the south of Germany, and back then it was partly owned by small scale princes like the Margrave of Bayreuth, partly by the church (like my hometown, Bamberg), and partly consisting of free imperial cities, like Nuremberg. It wasn't even under Prussian rule when Fredersdorff was born. (Though once Bayreuth & Ansbach fell back to the main Hohenzollern line, it would be, for a while.) It also has an utterly different dialect than Pomerania, which is in the uttermost east of of Germany, and today partly in Poland.
I should maybe also point out the following, in case you're wondering whether Burchardt is confusing something.
Franconia = Franken (in German). A Region in the northern part of Bavaria, i.e. the south of Germany, which still makes it very southern from Prussia's pov.
Frankfurt am Main = the more famous Frankfurt. Where Goethe was from, where Emperors until the end of the HRE got crowned, where the Frankfurt Book Fair, world's greatest even today, takes place. Used to be a free imperial city, which didn't stop Fritz from having Voltaire and his niece arrested there. Is located in the southern-midwest province of Hesse.
Frankfurt an der Oder = the less famous Frankfurt. Is actually in the very east of Germany. That's where Fritz got serenaded by students, and where he and Fredersdorf supposedly met.
If Burchardt were a foreigner, I'd assume he just confused Frankfurt an der Oder with Franken, but as a German, he shouldn't be able to make that mistake.
As for Fredersdorf's dad being a respectable merchant, that's the first I hear of it and sounds far less plausible than everyone else so far saying he was a musician and that was where Fredesdorf got his musical training pre army. The only thing sounding remotely plausible about this is that he got nabbed by Prussian recruiters for his size. But given the nonsense in the rest of the opening statement, I'm sceptical.
Which is a shame, because on the next page, our editor says Fredersdorf consoled himself about his new unwanted career in the army by playing the flute and thus became a virtuoso, and then the "governor" - Gouverneur, he uses this word - of Küstrin concluded he was just the ticket to cheer up the distressed Crown Prince, who after all also had only the flute as his sole consolation. I assume this preface is thus the source for the story "Fredersdorf was picked by the Küstrin staff to cheer up Fritz". No Frankfurt meeting/sighting mentioned.
Burchardt says Fritz soon started to use Fredersdorf to smuggle out and in letters to friends and relations in general and to Wilhelmine specifically. He also, in a footnote to Fredersdorf's self taught musical virtuoso status, says F made it into history as "der liebliche Flötenspieler des Königs" - "the lovely flutist of the King". He does not provide a citation for that one.
Burchardt does share Mildred's theory that alchemy did Fredersdorf in, saying his passion for alchemy was thus that "he sacrificed a good deal of his fortune and even his physical health" to it.
No mention of any firing in disgrace Otoh editor thinks Fredesdorf lived until freaking 1780, and conducted his office as chamberlain of the King even from his sickbed until then, which, what?
Finally: "Since the death of Fredersdorff, this correspondance, with the exception of the letters which the King demanded back after his death, has remained in the possession of the heirs. The editor has been permitted within the lifetime of the recently died owner to read it, and to make copies of the most excellent ones, and after his death to use it as he (the editor) sees fit. This he fulfills a holy obligation in the sense of the nobly departed by putting these letters into print and recommends them to the German public for their attention."
Okay. Now, this is where yours truly having a PhD in German literature comes in handy. If you'll recall, Fredersdorff's widow married the Granddad of Achim von Arnim, who while a writer himself is mostly famous by being the bff of poet Clemens Brentano and husband of Bettina Brentano (she of the Goethe fandom and one of the few female German star writers of the early to mid 19th century). I just checked with wiki, and yes, Achim von Arnim died in 1831 (Bettina would live on until the 1850s), which means that he's probably the "noble deceased" Burchardt is talking about in a book printed in 1833. And I would furtherly speculate that Fredersdorff suddenly being the son of a respectable Franconian merchant instead of a Pomeranian town piper is entirely to the von Arnim family wanting to beef up their sort-of-relations social ancestry.
The letters: are numbered, not dated, and not always in chronological order (thanks, editor), so you get letters complaining about the alchemy stuff before the letter about the Soor raid and the dead/missing dogs/horses. Also, there are just two or so letters from Fredersdorff, whereas 1926! editor included more, presumably more having been found in the Prussian state archives since then. As for the letters themselves, from what I can see via a quick browsing through - will have to reread the 1926 edition to be sure, am working from memory and under time pressure here -, 1926 editor did not leave any out, with the possible exception of letter Number 35, page 44 f., which goes:
I'm sending you a rare elixir which comes from Theophrast Paracelsus and which has worked miracles for me and all who have taken it, do take from this medicine, but don't take any quackery in addition to it, for he who does loses the male power of love for the rest of his life.
"männliche Kräfte der Liebe" can also be translated as "masculine force of love", or "male vigour" - or less literal, more factual (i.e what is meant) as "male potency", of course. I don't recall that letter from the 1926 editiion, though like I said, maybe I missed it a few months ago when I read it. Anyway, a "you don't want to become impotent, do you?" teasing letter like that would argue for a not so platonic relationship, no?
I just checked with wiki, and yes, Achim von Arnim died in 1831 (Bettina would live on until the 1850s), which means that he's probably the "noble deceased" Burchardt is talking about in a book printed in 1833. And I would furtherly speculate that Fredersdorff suddenly being the son of a respectable Franconian merchant instead of a Pomeranian town piper is entirely to the von Arnim family wanting to beef up their sort-of-relations social ancestry.
This makes total sense, and I appreciate your telling us that background :D
*blinks* not in chronological order?! That sounds... confusing.
for he who does loses the male power of love for the rest of his life.
Definitely suggestive, at the very least! (Though I could also see it all being teasing and innuendo rather than actually sexual, as mildred has talked about.)
*blinks* not in chronological order?! That sounds... confusing.
It is. At one point, Burchardt even says that letter X ought to come after letter N given twenty pages earlier, and I'm throwing up my hands exclaiming "then why didn't you put it there?"
Maybe the von Arnims numbered them this way, and he feels obliged to reproduce that?
Wow, that turned out to be informative in a completely different way from what I expected! I was hoping for new letters and prepared for nothing new at all. But now we know where some of our modern accounts about Fredersdorf come from: that he smuggled letters and that he was picked out by the people in charge of Fritz to cheer the prince up with the flute (which is the version we ended up going with in "Counterpoint").
Mind you, while we know for a fact that the student performance happened in Frankfurt an der Oder, our source on that having anything to do with Fredersdorf is only slightly more reliable, a 1790 guy who says Fredersdorf effectively tricked Fritz into letting him get married on his apparent deathbed, which Lehndorff contradicts.
But at least 1790 guy doesn't think Fredersdorf was alive and helping run the country until 1780!! That's astounding. Like cahn says, nice AU. :P
I guess it means Fredersdorf gets to take credit for much of the post Seven Years' War achievements, and thus makes the Arnim family look better. Seconding cahn's thanks on that, btw--thank goodness for our German lit PhD!
The letters: are numbered, not dated, and not always in chronological order (thanks, editor), so you get letters complaining about the alchemy stuff before the letter about the Soor raid and the dead/missing dogs/horses.
Ooooh. So that's why I thought there might be new-to-us letters, since I didn't recognize any of those pre-Soor letters. Of course, I did notice they were undated and figured they might have gotten shuffled around, but that you would be able to tell us. Pity there weren't more (barring that one that might or might not be), but the intro was well worth it alone.
It wasn't even under Prussian rule when Fredersdorff was born.
Not that that ever stopped Prussian recruiters. :P
The only thing sounding remotely plausible about this is that he got nabbed by Prussian recruiters for his size.
The least plausible part to me about this proposition is how on earth FW let him out of Potsdam to go be Fritz's valet, if he was tall enough to be a Potsdam giant?
Anyway, a "you don't want to become impotent, do you?" teasing letter like that would argue for a not so platonic relationship, no?
While I would be the last person to say it definitely wasn't a socratic relationship, I just don't see this as very good evidence. I feel like even in the tail-end-of-Victorian age we're living in now, with all its taboos around bodily functions, one straight guy could write to another straight guy, "Take this medication but don't mix with this other thing, because it'll make you impotent," and assume with 99% accuracy that other guy doesn't want to lose his virility and would appreciate a warning about medication side effects.
Now, could this exchange be taking place in a context in which Fredersdorf would immediately grasp that Fritz was teasing because *he* has a personal vested interest in Fredersdorf's männliche Kräfte der Liebe? Of course! I just don't see medical advice as evidence one way or the other.
It's also interesting that Fredersdorf persists in all the quackery despite Fritz's warnings, so either he doesn't believe it'll affect his virility, or he thinks it's worth the risk.
But at least 1790 guy doesn't think Fredersdorf was alive and helping run the country until 1780!! That's astounding. Like cahn says, nice AU. :P
It did occur to me that Achim von Arnim's grandpa on the maternal side, whom Mrs. Fredersdorf married as a widow, did in fact work as Fritz' Chamberlain, too. (And may well have lived until 1780.) Though naturally not with the same kind of power as Fredersdorf, let alone the same type of relationship with Fritz. Now, not that I want to be mean, but Bettina von Arnim, née Brentano, was a writer with quite the imagination and none too bothered in rewriting history if the final product justified it, see her book "Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde". (Which best is described as RPF starring herself and Goethe with the occasional nod to history.) So I could totally see her decide that hey, actual Grandpa of her husband was a nobody no one knows anymore, why not merge him with Fredersdorf and thus make Fredersdorf Achim's ancestor? Hence also the confusion of birthdates. Maybe Burchardt got all his intel on Fredersdorf from her and the late Achim, along with the letters. Unlike us, it's not like he could look up a great many other sources on Fredersdorf.
The least plausible part to me about this proposition is how on earth FW let him out of Potsdam to go be Fritz's valet, if he was tall enough to be a Potsdam giant?
Indeed. So I'm going with your estimation of Fredersdorf's size as just below the Potsdam giant standard.
It's also interesting that Fredersdorf persists in all the quackery despite Fritz's warnings, so either he doesn't believe it'll affect his virility, or he thinks it's worth the risk.
Well, in this particular case, I don't think Fritz actually sent medicine. Paracelsus is a legendary medieval scholar and master of alchemy. I very much doubt that Fritz, whose relationship with his doctors is best described as sceptical, actually took medicine based on a mythical Paracelsus recipe. (I doubt there is such a thing, btw.) My guess is that the "rare elixir" is a bottle of good wine (which has done Fritz and all who have drunk it good), and calling it a Paracelsus-based drought is Fritz kidding Fredersdorf about his alchemy obsession, followed by the kidding about impotence.
This said, in general Fredersdorf not listening to all the Fritz advice about staying away from quackery is interesting. I mean, we know he didn't do his body any favours there, but then again, what Fredersdorf knows that Fritz hasn't studied medicine and is no way a scientist qualified to have an opinion in this matter. Listening to experts over know it alls usually is the smart thing to do (unless we're talking 18th century medicine). In any event, it indicates that Fredersdorf might have been ultra respectful in his few prerserved letters but clearly did have opinions he wasn't willing to budge from in his life with Fritz. (Or rather, where he said "sure thing, your majesty" and promptly ignored whatever Fritz had been advising.)
Despite a focused attempt to dig it up, which turned up most of the recent goodies I've been unloading, I haven't found any signs of disgrace either. However, I'm convinced there's a source that we don't have, because 1) MacDonogh may be unreliable, but he doesn't usually make things up out of whole cloth like Burgdorf, 2) Wikipedia has a very specific quote that doesn't come from MacDonogh. So there's got to be a third source out there, predating 1999. It may be as much of an obvious AU as Burchardt! But it's got to exist.
The two best leads I have so far are a couple of non-public-domain sources that are cited by MacDonogh for the paragraph where he mentions Fredersdorf "pocketing small sums" and that I haven't been able to get my hands on.
- Hans Leuschner. Friedrich der Grosse: Zeit — Person — Wirkung. Pages 79-80. - Dehio, Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Berlin/ DDR, Potsdam, Berlin [East]. Page 474.
I know you're super busy this month, but if at any time, you happen to find yourself in a library and that library has either of these books, you could check out the relevant page and see if what we're looking for is there.
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Fredersdorf
1.) This edition has a very humble dedication to the current Czar - Nicholas - dedicating this book which shows the great, the one, the adored and feared as "a friend and a human being". Dedications of books to sovereigns were in fact on their way out about this time - 1833 is just a bit of a decade more before it's revolution time all over Europe again, including Germany - so that marks our editor as an old fashioned kind of guy.
2.) Burchardt, the editor, then gives us a biographical sketch of Fredersdorf. Said sketch starts with a massive departure from everything else we know about Fredersdorf. In this version, he's the son of a respectable merchant from Franconia, who was also trained to be a merchant when "because of his size he fell into the hands of Prussian recruiters who tricked him into changing the pen for the sword".
Now, seriously, this is all rubbish. Firstly, everyone else, including Lehndorff who actually talked with the man, says Fredersdorff hails from Pomerania, and from the back of Pomerania at that. (And from a poor background.) This is an utterly different province from Franconia. Franconia is where I come from, it's in the south of Germany, and back then it was partly owned by small scale princes like the Margrave of Bayreuth, partly by the church (like my hometown, Bamberg), and partly consisting of free imperial cities, like Nuremberg. It wasn't even under Prussian rule when Fredersdorff was born. (Though once Bayreuth & Ansbach fell back to the main Hohenzollern line, it would be, for a while.) It also has an utterly different dialect than Pomerania, which is in the uttermost east of of Germany, and today partly in Poland.
I should maybe also point out the following, in case you're wondering whether Burchardt is confusing something.
Franconia = Franken (in German). A Region in the northern part of Bavaria, i.e. the south of Germany, which still makes it very southern from Prussia's pov.
Frankfurt am Main = the more famous Frankfurt. Where Goethe was from, where Emperors until the end of the HRE got crowned, where the Frankfurt Book Fair, world's greatest even today, takes place. Used to be a free imperial city, which didn't stop Fritz from having Voltaire and his niece arrested there. Is located in the southern-midwest province of Hesse.
Frankfurt an der Oder = the less famous Frankfurt. Is actually in the very east of Germany. That's where Fritz got serenaded by students, and where he and Fredersdorf supposedly met.
If Burchardt were a foreigner, I'd assume he just confused Frankfurt an der Oder with Franken, but as a German, he shouldn't be able to make that mistake.
As for Fredersdorf's dad being a respectable merchant, that's the first I hear of it and sounds far less plausible than everyone else so far saying he was a musician and that was where Fredesdorf got his musical training pre army. The only thing sounding remotely plausible about this is that he got nabbed by Prussian recruiters for his size. But given the nonsense in the rest of the opening statement, I'm sceptical.
Which is a shame, because on the next page, our editor says Fredersdorf consoled himself about his new unwanted career in the army by playing the flute and thus became a virtuoso, and then the "governor" - Gouverneur, he uses this word - of Küstrin concluded he was just the ticket to cheer up the distressed Crown Prince, who after all also had only the flute as his sole consolation. I assume this preface is thus the source for the story "Fredersdorf was picked by the Küstrin staff to cheer up Fritz". No Frankfurt meeting/sighting mentioned.
Burchardt says Fritz soon started to use Fredersdorf to smuggle out and in letters to friends and relations in general and to Wilhelmine specifically. He also, in a footnote to Fredersdorf's self taught musical virtuoso status, says F made it into history as "der liebliche Flötenspieler des Königs" - "the lovely flutist of the King". He does not provide a citation for that one.
Burchardt does share Mildred's theory that alchemy did Fredersdorf in, saying his passion for alchemy was thus that "he sacrificed a good deal of his fortune and even his physical health" to it.
No mention of any firing in disgrace Otoh editor thinks Fredesdorf lived until freaking 1780, and conducted his office as chamberlain of the King even from his sickbed until then, which, what?
Finally: "Since the death of Fredersdorff, this correspondance, with the exception of the letters which the King demanded back after his death, has remained in the possession of the heirs. The editor has been permitted within the lifetime of the recently died owner to read it, and to make copies of the most excellent ones, and after his death to use it as he (the editor) sees fit. This he fulfills a holy obligation in the sense of the nobly departed by putting these letters into print and recommends them to the German public for their attention."
Okay. Now, this is where yours truly having a PhD in German literature comes in handy. If you'll recall, Fredersdorff's widow married the Granddad of Achim von Arnim, who while a writer himself is mostly famous by being the bff of poet Clemens Brentano and husband of Bettina Brentano (she of the Goethe fandom and one of the few female German star writers of the early to mid 19th century). I just checked with wiki, and yes, Achim von Arnim died in 1831 (Bettina would live on until the 1850s), which means that he's probably the "noble deceased" Burchardt is talking about in a book printed in 1833. And I would furtherly speculate that Fredersdorff suddenly being the son of a respectable Franconian merchant instead of a Pomeranian town piper is entirely to the von Arnim family wanting to beef up their sort-of-relations social ancestry.
The letters: are numbered, not dated, and not always in chronological order (thanks, editor), so you get letters complaining about the alchemy stuff before the letter about the Soor raid and the dead/missing dogs/horses. Also, there are just two or so letters from Fredersdorff, whereas 1926! editor included more, presumably more having been found in the Prussian state archives since then. As for the letters themselves, from what I can see via a quick browsing through - will have to reread the 1926 edition to be sure, am working from memory and under time pressure here -, 1926 editor did not leave any out, with the possible exception of letter Number 35, page 44 f., which goes:
I'm sending you a rare elixir which comes from Theophrast Paracelsus and which has worked miracles for me and all who have taken it, do take from this medicine, but don't take any quackery in addition to it, for he who does loses the male power of love for the rest of his life.
"männliche Kräfte der Liebe" can also be translated as "masculine force of love", or "male vigour" - or less literal, more factual (i.e what is meant) as "male potency", of course. I don't recall that letter from the 1926 editiion, though like I said, maybe I missed it a few months ago when I read it. Anyway, a "you don't want to become impotent, do you?" teasing letter like that would argue for a not so platonic relationship, no?
Re: Fredersdorf
I just checked with wiki, and yes, Achim von Arnim died in 1831 (Bettina would live on until the 1850s), which means that he's probably the "noble deceased" Burchardt is talking about in a book printed in 1833. And I would furtherly speculate that Fredersdorff suddenly being the son of a respectable Franconian merchant instead of a Pomeranian town piper is entirely to the von Arnim family wanting to beef up their sort-of-relations social ancestry.
This makes total sense, and I appreciate your telling us that background :D
*blinks* not in chronological order?! That sounds... confusing.
for he who does loses the male power of love for the rest of his life.
Definitely suggestive, at the very least! (Though I could also see it all being teasing and innuendo rather than actually sexual, as mildred has talked about.)
Re: Fredersdorf
It is. At one point, Burchardt even says that letter X ought to come after letter N given twenty pages earlier, and I'm throwing up my hands exclaiming "then why didn't you put it there?"
Maybe the von Arnims numbered them this way, and he feels obliged to reproduce that?
Re: Fredersdorf
Mind you, while we know for a fact that the student performance happened in Frankfurt an der Oder, our source on that having anything to do with Fredersdorf is only slightly more reliable, a 1790 guy who says Fredersdorf effectively tricked Fritz into letting him get married on his apparent deathbed, which Lehndorff contradicts.
But at least 1790 guy doesn't think Fredersdorf was alive and helping run the country until 1780!! That's astounding. Like
I guess it means Fredersdorf gets to take credit for much of the post Seven Years' War achievements, and thus makes the Arnim family look better. Seconding
The letters: are numbered, not dated, and not always in chronological order (thanks, editor), so you get letters complaining about the alchemy stuff before the letter about the Soor raid and the dead/missing dogs/horses.
Ooooh. So that's why I thought there might be new-to-us letters, since I didn't recognize any of those pre-Soor letters. Of course, I did notice they were undated and figured they might have gotten shuffled around, but that you would be able to tell us. Pity there weren't more (barring that one that might or might not be), but the intro was well worth it alone.
It wasn't even under Prussian rule when Fredersdorff was born.
Not that that ever stopped Prussian recruiters. :P
The only thing sounding remotely plausible about this is that he got nabbed by Prussian recruiters for his size.
The least plausible part to me about this proposition is how on earth FW let him out of Potsdam to go be Fritz's valet, if he was tall enough to be a Potsdam giant?
Anyway, a "you don't want to become impotent, do you?" teasing letter like that would argue for a not so platonic relationship, no?
While I would be the last person to say it definitely wasn't a socratic relationship, I just don't see this as very good evidence. I feel like even in the tail-end-of-Victorian age we're living in now, with all its taboos around bodily functions, one straight guy could write to another straight guy, "Take this medication but don't mix with this other thing, because it'll make you impotent," and assume with 99% accuracy that other guy doesn't want to lose his virility and would appreciate a warning about medication side effects.
Now, could this exchange be taking place in a context in which Fredersdorf would immediately grasp that Fritz was teasing because *he* has a personal vested interest in Fredersdorf's männliche Kräfte der Liebe? Of course! I just don't see medical advice as evidence one way or the other.
It's also interesting that Fredersdorf persists in all the quackery despite Fritz's warnings, so either he doesn't believe it'll affect his virility, or he thinks it's worth the risk.
Re: Fredersdorf
It did occur to me that Achim von Arnim's grandpa on the maternal side, whom Mrs. Fredersdorf married as a widow, did in fact work as Fritz' Chamberlain, too. (And may well have lived until 1780.) Though naturally not with the same kind of power as Fredersdorf, let alone the same type of relationship with Fritz. Now, not that I want to be mean, but Bettina von Arnim, née Brentano, was a writer with quite the imagination and none too bothered in rewriting history if the final product justified it, see her book "Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde". (Which best is described as RPF starring herself and Goethe with the occasional nod to history.) So I could totally see her decide that hey, actual Grandpa of her husband was a nobody no one knows anymore, why not merge him with Fredersdorf and thus make Fredersdorf Achim's ancestor? Hence also the confusion of birthdates. Maybe Burchardt got all his intel on Fredersdorf from her and the late Achim, along with the letters. Unlike us, it's not like he could look up a great many other sources on Fredersdorf.
The least plausible part to me about this proposition is how on earth FW let him out of Potsdam to go be Fritz's valet, if he was tall enough to be a Potsdam giant?
Indeed. So I'm going with your estimation of Fredersdorf's size as just below the Potsdam giant standard.
It's also interesting that Fredersdorf persists in all the quackery despite Fritz's warnings, so either he doesn't believe it'll affect his virility, or he thinks it's worth the risk.
Well, in this particular case, I don't think Fritz actually sent medicine. Paracelsus is a legendary medieval scholar and master of alchemy. I very much doubt that Fritz, whose relationship with his doctors is best described as sceptical, actually took medicine based on a mythical Paracelsus recipe. (I doubt there is such a thing, btw.) My guess is that the "rare elixir" is a bottle of good wine (which has done Fritz and all who have drunk it good), and calling it a Paracelsus-based drought is Fritz kidding Fredersdorf about his alchemy obsession, followed by the kidding about impotence.
This said, in general Fredersdorf not listening to all the Fritz advice about staying away from quackery is interesting. I mean, we know he didn't do his body any favours there, but then again, what Fredersdorf knows that Fritz hasn't studied medicine and is no way a scientist qualified to have an opinion in this matter. Listening to experts over know it alls usually is the smart thing to do (unless we're talking 18th century medicine). In any event, it indicates that Fredersdorf might have been ultra respectful in his few prerserved letters but clearly did have opinions he wasn't willing to budge from in his life with Fritz. (Or rather, where he said "sure thing, your majesty" and promptly ignored whatever Fritz had been advising.)
Re: Fredersdorf
Not that you would expect one, from this AU!
Despite a focused attempt to dig it up, which turned up most of the recent goodies I've been unloading, I haven't found any signs of disgrace either. However, I'm convinced there's a source that we don't have, because 1) MacDonogh may be unreliable, but he doesn't usually make things up out of whole cloth like Burgdorf, 2) Wikipedia has a very specific quote that doesn't come from MacDonogh. So there's got to be a third source out there, predating 1999. It may be as much of an obvious AU as Burchardt! But it's got to exist.
The two best leads I have so far are a couple of non-public-domain sources that are cited by MacDonogh for the paragraph where he mentions Fredersdorf "pocketing small sums" and that I haven't been able to get my hands on.
- Hans Leuschner. Friedrich der Grosse: Zeit — Person — Wirkung. Pages 79-80.
- Dehio, Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Berlin/ DDR, Potsdam, Berlin [East]. Page 474.
I know you're super busy this month, but if at any time, you happen to find yourself in a library and that library has either of these books, you could check out the relevant page and see if what we're looking for is there.