cahn | Frederick the Great, discussion post 14

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cahn

Check out the opera clips at Rheinsberg!

(both the real-life place, which

selenak found out hosts a festival for young opera singers! and the community

rheinsberg)

Also! our fandom has been producing lovely fic at a rapid clip (okay, well,

selenak has):

Sibling dysfunction: Promises to Keep and My Brother Narcissus

Sibling dysfunction PLUS sibling M/M love triangle: The moon flies face to face with me

VOLTAIRE! Between the hour and the age

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

cahn

I do have a headcanon in which he does know but doesn't let on he know

YES I am fully on board with this headcanon! ~~because it makes all the Sibling Stuff that much more delicious~~

From:

selenak

I feel on at least plausible ground here, because the same Fritz who knows that an Erlangen journalist writes critical articles about him in his sister's principality is not going to miss this Gessler person writing critical stuff about his much praised first two Silesian Wars which everyone else hails him as a military genius for in Prussia. Then there's the fact that AW published the result of his and Heinrich's RPG in a private edition for friends, and in that RPG, "Marshal Gessler" is a character. So one does not have to be Rokoko Sherlock Holmes to conclude "Gessler" is either AW or Heinrich, and which of themis likely to mouth off in a pamphlet.

Conversely, for all that Fritz wanted to be absolutely obeyed by his army, he also knew htat in a critical situation you needed to have the capacity for indenpendent thinking in the field. Now both AW and Heinrich had fought bravely in the Second Silesian war, it wasn't a question of either one's courage to decide who gets an independent command first. Which is why I think it could have been a case of "you did the talk, now let's see whether you can walk the walk".

From:

mildred_of_midgard

This is all very convincing!

Heinrich: *walks the walk*

Then there's the fact that AW published the result of his and Heinrich's RPG in a private edition for friends

You may have told us, but is this still extant?

From:

selenak

I assume so, since in her AW biography Ziebura describes it as a rarity for bibliophiles (red leather bound, gold cut, 299 Folio pages, 25 drawn maps). Lehndorff got a copy, but I don't think it's listed in the Leipzig archive.

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Oh, man. Somebody needs to digitize this!

19th century German historians, somebody is roleplaying your hero! How did you drop the ball on making this more readily available? :P

From:

cahn

So one does not have to be Rokoko Sherlock Holmes to conclude "Gessler" is either AW or Heinrich, and which of themis likely to mouth off in a pamphlet.

HA. Excellent! I like my headcanons with a side of plausibility :D

...but now that you bring up Rokoko Sherlock Holmes, I now have to ask: what did Voltaire know about this, and when did he know it? :P

Which is why I think it could have been a case of "you did the talk, now let's see whether you can walk the walk".

Ah! And now we see the side of Fritz that keeps me coming back (which I kinda needed, after that chapter about Heinrich's marriage. FRITZ!)

From:

selenak

what did Voltaire know about this, and when did he know it? :

Voltaire: Look. I was busy during my years in Prussia. I mean, I had to wash the King's dirty laundry, write my own immortal masterpieces, do shady business deals with Hirschel and then go to trial with him, and I was feuding with Maupertuis. I simply did not have the time to read some guy named Gessler's anonymous pamphlets about what Fritz did wrong in the Silesian Wars! Especially since these didn't contain any spicy gossip about his sex life. I'd definitely would have found the time oterwise.

I.e. if he noticed, Orieux does not mention it. (Mind you, Oriexu as we've seen has zilch idea about what Fritz' brothers were like and only mentions them in the plural anyway.) Then again, the Voltaire, excuse, some guy's anonomouy "Vie Secrete de le roi de Prusse" pamphlet from the early 1750s goes easy on Heinrich (other than classifying him as a Potsdamite and commiserating with his new wife on that front). While poor AW gets dissed ("not being able to read or write in his father's life time", "just as military minded as his brother"), and good old Ferdinand dismissed as dull, Heinrich gets described as clever, cultured and generous. Which may or may not have to do with the fact he acted in not one but two court performances of Voltaire's plays in the de facto leading roles and got Voltaire's stamp of approval for his performance in his letters. So it's also possible Voltaire had some mild fondness for Heinrich and didn't want to get him into trouble with Fritz by pointing out who "Gessler" had to be. I mean, Voltaire knew he himself could leave. But Heinrich couldn't.

Edited Date: 2020-05-01 06:16 am (UTC)