Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 19

[cahn]

Yuletide nominations:

18th Century CE Federician RPF
Maria Theresia | Maria Theresa of Austria
Voltaire
Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Ernst Ahasverus von Lehndorff
Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Anna Amalie von Preußen | Anna Amalia of Prussia (1723-1787)
Catherine II of Russia
Hans Hermann von Katte
Peter Karl Christoph von Keith
Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf
August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758)

Circle of Voltaire RPF
Emilie du Chatelet
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson (Madame de Pompadour)
John Hervey (1696-1743)
Marie Louise Mignot Denis
Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
Armand de Vignerot du Plessis de Richelieu (1696-1788)
Francesco Algarotti

Comments

Re: Molière - Küstrin poetry

[selenak]

I'm with Fritz: Moliere's verses are a masterpiece. :) Also this is another superb bit of work by our Royal Detective.

Many years ago, I saw a modern adaption of The Misanthrope, starring Damian Lewis as Alceste, no less, but while I still remember the general outline, I'd forgotten the details, including how applicable the scene with Oronte is to the Hille and Fritz situation. It's really perfect, and btw, it says something about just how deeply steeped into French culture an 18th century German noble was if even an FW approved official like Hille knows his Moliere well enough to have the correct allusion ready. (BTW, given Fritz at this stage was just to read theology, I wonder what Dad would have said to the lengthy Moliere quotation?)

As for Wilke, I shall honor him by trying my hand at a verse translation again.

Most noble Prince! Your purple here will shine,
where there's a portrait of the founder of your line,
Both eyes and shield across our borders was he,
and justly called a wise Prince across Germany.


Oh Lord! Will you indulge us with a gaze
of brightness, such as your mind otherwise
produces in abundance, and like our sun's rays
warm your good servant, whose devotion never lies.

Please let us kiss your hand in due humility,
and pledge our hearts to you forevermore,
and do excuse the probability
that, noble Prince, in obedience they were yours before.

Your glamor dazzles us and makes us now retreat,
and our humbleness must hem our tongue,
but praying for you shall be an easy feat,
for you, dear Prince, and also for the throne.


Fritz' short German reply poem:


The Prince is grateful for the effort made,
and gracefully accepts poetry's fruit;
If your loyality and duty do not fade,
he will reward such service, and such good.

Re: Molière - Küstrin poetry

[mildred_of_midgard]

it says something about just how deeply steeped into French culture an 18th century German noble was if even an FW approved official like Hille knows his Moliere well enough to have the correct allusion ready.

Exactly what I was thinking!

BTW, given Fritz at this stage was just to read theology, I wonder what Dad would have said to the lengthy Moliere quotation?

Ooh, good point.

Hille: Your Majesty, it was for a good cause, I swear!

Lol, I remember you coming up with this exchange when we discovered Fritz's plan to marry into the Hapsburgs:

here's how I imagine things went down in Potsdam:

Grumpkow: Your Majesty, the crown prince is now very devout, praying with Pastor Muller.

FW: Good.

G: He's sworn of the English marriage project.

FW: He'd better.

G:...and wants to marry an Austrian arch duchess, convert to Chatholicism and move to Vienna.

FW: WTF?!!!!!

G: Just a suggestion, maybe allow him to play the flute again? Just as an alternative to Catholicism, of course.

Wilke thanks you for the honor you do him by translating his poems for us to appreciate. :)

Re: Molière - Küstrin poetry

[mildred_of_midgard]

I'd forgotten the details, including how applicable the scene with Oronte is to the Hille and Fritz situation. It's really perfect

I don't know anything about Moliere's life story, but I'm going to go out on a limb and speculate that, like Voltaire, he probably got asked to beta read bad to mediocre poetry by rich people a lot. ;)

Re: Molière - Küstrin poetry

[selenak]

I only know he was a non-noble actor-playwright at the court of Louis XIV., which makes me assume the same thing. :) Checking on his German wiki entry, I see it also claims Alceste in The Misanthrope is the most autobiogrophical of his characters.

(Also, another thing he had in common with Voltaire was that since he was an actor who got in trouble with the church a couple of times (notoriously, because of Tartuffe, the play in which he makes fun of a religious hypocrites), he nearly hadn't gotten a Christian burial; it needed the personal intervention of Louis XIV. for it to happen.