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

Concertmasters

[cahn]

Heinrich was able around 1735/1736 to impromptu replace a concert master of the crown prince's music train who had fallen sick just before a performance at the royal table, and to conduct said performance for real, not just play-acting. How and by whom he had been taught these skills sadly can't be tracked down anymore.

Huh, yeah, see my previous comment about wondering what "mediocre" means (always assuming this story is actually true, which you give good reasons to question). Ten years *is* pretty young to replace a concertmaster and conduct. My (well-trained but probably not intrinsically music-minded) ten-year-old would not be able to do it, nor would the other well-trained 10-year-old we know. Although I suspect my younger one might -- he is not a prodigy but is rather more musically-minded (and in particular likes play-acting conducting). Remind me in five years and I'll check ;)

As for why Fritz didn't do it himself, at least in my experience the concertmaster is usually a violinist, and probably involves reading some violin music as well as conducting (if I remember vaguely how this used to work), and making it a flute might be a little weird.

Oh, yeah, haha, this article says that in Baroque music the concertmaster usually led and played at the same time -- which a violinist can do (rather than a harpsichordist) because the violinist can move the instrument in time, but of course a flautist can do that too. The violinist has the extra advantage though of being able to conduct using the (relatively light) bow as a baton if things get out of hand, while using (the much heavier) flute as a baton would not be ideal :P

I was also charmed by the reference because it quotes Johann Joachim Quantz! "who said that concertmasters weren’t violinists 'by right,' but that appointing a violinist was preferable to most other musicians." ...I was unable to find a more detailed reference to Quantz, but now I'm just imagining this quote coming from Quantz trying to explain to Fritz why he couldn't always just be the concertmaster himself :D

Re: Concertmasters

[selenak]

LOL, yes. Re: why Heinrich despite enthusiasm and practice never got better than avarage, I'm going with:

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.)

Especially since both Fritz and Heinrich had some true virtuoso musicians at their respective courts. Now if Heinrich had been actively bad or not pleasant to listen to, I think it would have been mentioned (he wasn't Nero, demanding praise, with lack of same getting punishment, and he didn't have the power to do this, either), and as, say, Gertrud Elisabeth Schmeling Mara does not mention Heinrich himself playing when she was at Rheinsberg, during the summer of Ulrike's visit, nor do any of the Russians mention him doing so when he was visiting Catherine in Russia, I'm assuming that at least in his middle age and old age, he reserved playing himself for the more intimate settings, not the big public occasions. Otoh, Heinrich as a lively music loving ten years old might not have had any inhibitions (especially if Dad wasn't around), no matter how good or bad his own playing skill was. But, like I said: I'm rserving judgment until I know what Proebst's source for this story was; that it doesn't show up in Ziebura, who went with a fine comb through all the childhood stuff for the princes, makes me sceptic.

Thank you for the article, that was very interesting to read.