Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 20

[cahn]

Yuletide signups so far:
3 requests for Frederician RPF, 2 offers
2 requests for Circle of Voltaire RPF, 3 offers !! :D :D

(I am so curious as to who the third person is!)

Comments

Re: Krockow tidbits

[cahn]

Paper and duct tape! (My previous landlord was clearly a good Prussian.)

Ha!

although he was a mediocre violin player, he never missed a chance to practice, and was never intimidated by the presence of virtuosos from performing and never turned down an invitation to perform. That's an interesting piece of characterization!

Oh, interesting! If he practiced consistently, I wonder why he never got to be better than mediocre -- possibly he just didn't have all that much in the way of chances to practice, or possibly he just didn't have the talent of Fritz and (perhaps) Wilhelmine and Amalie, much as I hate to admit it :P

(I also always wonder what "mediocre" means. When I think of a mediocre violin player, I think of one who isn't always pleasant to listen to and who can't perhaps always reliably hit notes, especially ones that are very high -- someone who has perhaps had only a few years of instruction. But in the era where nobility was expected to do some music, maybe it means "not able to be favorably compared with a virtuoso," which is a much higher bar.)