cahn,blue was Prussia's color - Preussisch blau - while red as you probably know was what the Brits wore in this era. Hence FW's thing about the colors.
In the summer of the year 1730, shortly before the King undertook the journey with the Crown Prince which was to lead them through the Empire until Wesel, where the Crown Prince had intended to escape to England, followed by the known unfortunate results, Quantz - - Nicolai spells it Quanz all the time, btw - , too, was in Berlin, in order to play with the Crown Prince sometimes early in the morning around 6 am, but usually always in the afternoon from 4 until 7 pm. The discontent between the King and the Crown Prince was already very high at that point, and the Prince back then sought to be the opposite of what his father was in most things. In the morning, he had to submit to force as far as his exterior was concerned. The tight uniform, the simple curled hair, the stiff tail, the serious soldier's step weren't to his taste, but he had to accept them. Only after lunch, once he was left in his rooms on his own, he wanted to live there as he pleased. Thus, he usually had his hair styled according to the then current fashion, used a Haarbeutel and wore a dressing gown made of golden brocade; and thus he studied and played the flute.
The Crown Prince was dressed in this fashion one day, and Quantz was playing with him, when suddenly the later doomed Herr von Katte, the Crown Prince's favourite, hurried into the room and frightened reported that the King was coming and was already very close. Now the Crown Prince's passion for books and music had not been hidden to the King. Both were repellent to him, and he wanted to surprise the Crown Prince. Katte took the boxes with the flutes in the greatest hurry, and the scores, took the extremely frightened Quantz by the hand and jumped with him and the boxes in a small cabinet where they usually stored material to heat the stoves with. Here, they had to remain for over an hour, and Quantz, who told me the whole story himself, trembled, even more so since he was wearing a red coat; a color which the King hated. The Crown Prince had dressed into the uniform in the greatest hurry, but he couldn't get rid of the Haarbeutel as quickly, and thus it is easy to guess how disturbing this encounter must have been. The King soon discovered the hidden shelves behind the tapestry where the books and the dressing gowns were kept. The later, he had thrown into the fireplace at once, as for the books, he ordered them to be sold to the bookstore owner Haude. The later kept the books as a service to the Crown Prince, who ordered them to be taken to him one by one, according to his needs, until his complete library could be restored to him.
Quantz finally was freed from his tight corner once the King had left; but he was extremely careful during his subsequent visits to Berlin; he especially took care never to wear a red coat again, but only a grey or a blue one.
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The FW-Fritz-Quantz-Katte tale (Nicolai version)
Date: 2021-02-24 01:18 pm (UTC)In the summer of the year 1730, shortly before the King undertook the journey with the Crown Prince which was to lead them through the Empire until Wesel, where the Crown Prince had intended to escape to England, followed by the known unfortunate results, Quantz - - Nicolai spells it Quanz all the time, btw - , too, was in Berlin, in order to play with the Crown Prince sometimes early in the morning around 6 am, but usually always in the afternoon from 4 until 7 pm. The discontent between the King and the Crown Prince was already very high at that point, and the Prince back then sought to be the opposite of what his father was in most things. In the morning, he had to submit to force as far as his exterior was concerned. The tight uniform, the simple curled hair, the stiff tail, the serious soldier's step weren't to his taste, but he had to accept them. Only after lunch, once he was left in his rooms on his own, he wanted to live there as he pleased. Thus, he usually had his hair styled according to the then current fashion, used a Haarbeutel and wore a dressing gown made of golden brocade; and thus he studied and played the flute.
The Crown Prince was dressed in this fashion one day, and Quantz was playing with him, when suddenly the later doomed Herr von Katte, the Crown Prince's favourite, hurried into the room and frightened reported that the King was coming and was already very close. Now the Crown Prince's passion for books and music had not been hidden to the King. Both were repellent to him, and he wanted to surprise the Crown Prince. Katte took the boxes with the flutes in the greatest hurry, and the scores, took the extremely frightened Quantz by the hand and jumped with him and the boxes in a small cabinet where they usually stored material to heat the stoves with. Here, they had to remain for over an hour, and Quantz, who told me the whole story himself, trembled, even more so since he was wearing a red coat; a color which the King hated. The Crown Prince had dressed into the uniform in the greatest hurry, but he couldn't get rid of the Haarbeutel as quickly, and thus it is easy to guess how disturbing this encounter must have been. The King soon discovered the hidden shelves behind the tapestry where the books and the dressing gowns were kept. The later, he had thrown into the fireplace at once, as for the books, he ordered them to be sold to the bookstore owner Haude. The later kept the books as a service to the Crown Prince, who ordered them to be taken to him one by one, according to his needs, until his complete library could be restored to him.
Quantz finally was freed from his tight corner once the King had left; but he was extremely careful during his subsequent visits to Berlin; he especially took care never to wear a red coat again, but only a grey or a blue one.