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.
Ahhh, this is cool, because that's one of the most famous anecdotes to include Katte (I even got Mobster AU author to include a modern AU variant in her backstory!), but I didn't know where we got it from. I mean, I knew it was a story Quantz told later, but not who he told or how it came down to us. Via Nicolai, who had a lot of contact with Quantz and names his sources is pretty good! (I mean, not necessarily for every single detail, but for this event happening.)
Also, I did not know about the Haarbeutel! I knew that Fritz's hair was done up in a fancy French style as opposed to the Prussian pigtail, but not the detail of what it looked like.
while red as you probably know was what the Brits wore in this era
I don't know about Cahn, but if I'd never read a page of history voluntarily on my own, I would still have had the redcoats drummed ineradicably into my head from year after year of covering the American Revolution in school!
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.
<333
See, Fritz had lots of people being kind to him, he just learned that kindness didn't come from the person in power. (People like his mother and the Münchows obviously had some power over him, and could have chosen to make life worse instead of better for him, but they just as obviously had very, very little power.)
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.
This is interesting, because I always learned that it was Fritz who was wearing a red dressing gown! Ah, look at this, Blanning reports this anecdote and says that Fritz was wearing "a sumptuous red silk dressing gown covered in gold brocade." Not a word about Quantz's coat being red. And his end note (which I had clearly never clicked on before) references Nicolai for the anecdote, with an addendum of "Nicolai was told all this by Quantz. It certainly has the ring of authenticity."
With which I agree, but that's not exactly what Nicolai said. I suspect Blanning did the thing again where he read the source and wrote it up from memory, which we've all been guilty of, and which we've caught him in before (at least that's what I think accounts for his report that Richter spends 9 pages ranting on how Fritz and Fredersdorf just had an intense rococo friendship, when Selena says he does no such thing.
Another minor discrepancy (not Blanning's) is that I keep seeing Katte described as posted outside the door standing guard. (On AO3, for example.) But you can't tell from this account whether he was keeping an eye out at his boyfriend's request, or happened to be hanging around in the palace, got wind of FW's approach, and went running to warn Fritz.
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.
Nice bit of characterization, though. Quantz is frozen with panic (it sounds like), and Katte is ON IT. Just what I would expect of him. <3 And that's even more interesting given that Quantz is the narrator and has no incentive to make Katte sound better at his own expense.
Via Nicolai, who had a lot of contact with Quantz and names his sources is pretty good! (I mean, not necessarily for every single detail, but for this event happening.)
Indeed. knew you'd be happy this is not a headcanon you have to abandon. :)
I did not know about the Haarbeutel! I knew that Fritz's hair was done up in a fancy French style as opposed to the Prussian pigtail, but not the detail of what it looked like.
Der Thronfolger, which restages this scene pretty faithfully, nonetheless drew the line at a Haarbeutel, I realise retrospectively, and so FW having a go at Fritz' hairstyle in addition to everything else sort of comes out of nowwhere because Fritz' hair doesn't look so different from how it does in other scenes (except he's not wearing a wig, which he usually does when with Dad).
This is interesting, because I always learned that it was Fritz who was wearing a red dressing gown!
So have I, and I think what happened is the similar as with the MT quip made by someone else and then attributed to Fritz; at some point in the retelling, someone decided that no one cares what Quantz wore on that occasion, red or not, the point is what Fritz wears, so instead of just a golden brocade dressing gown, he gets a golden-brocade-and-red-silk dressing gown.
BTW, since Quantz at this point has a well paid job in Saxony and is making these trips to Berlin solely for Fritz' sake, you can tell how emotionally invested he must have been, to put up with the prospect of angry FW. (Who'd have thought nothing of beating up a mere commoner and musician, one assumes.)
when Selena says he does no such thing
The way I recall it is that he says Fritz loved Fredersdorf like a father loves his son, full stop; he definitely does not say intense rocco friendship (that's more Schmidt-Lötzen's approach to Lehndorff's everything in his introduction), not least because Fredersdorf of course is in no way Fritz' equal and not interesting in himself, etc, but he can be loved like a son (by nineteen years old Fritz, when Fredersdorf is three years older). And at a different point in the book Richter rants somewhat about the modern tendency to Freudianize and sexualize everything, but not related to Fritz/Fredersdorf. The one several pages (might be nine) lecture we get is on Fritz/EC, i.e. Fritz' bad behavior towards her, which is the sole thing he critiques Fritz for, but explains as being the result of FW "raping his young soul" - he does say vergewaltigen, rape - into this marriage. The rant against the modern psychonalytic approach becomes hypocritcal when at yet another point, he diagnoses Wilhelmine as suffering from hysteria.
Quantz is frozen with panic (it sounds like), and Katte is ON IT. Just what I would expect of him. <3 And that's even more interesting given that Quantz is the narrator and has no incentive to make Katte sound better at his own expense.
Quite! It heightens the plausibility of the whole event and the reliability of Quantz as a narrator to no end.
Quantz is frozen with panic (it sounds like), and Katte is ON IT. Just what I would expect of him. <3 And that's even more interesting given that Quantz is the narrator and has no incentive to make Katte sound better at his own expense.
Quite! It heightens the plausibility of the whole event and the reliability of Quantz as a narrator to no end.
Okay, this is really cool and also not something I had got from it on a first reading, so thank you both <3
So have I, and I think what happened is the similar as with the MT quip made by someone else and then attributed to Fritz; at some point in the retelling, someone decided that no one cares what Quantz wore on that occasion, red or not, the point is what Fritz wears, so instead of just a golden brocade dressing gown, he gets a golden-brocade-and-red-silk dressing gown.
That makes sense, and also, if you, who haven't read Blanning, have also read it elsewhere, then Blanning might well have not only been going from memory of Nicolai but also remembering another source he had read.
BTW, since Quantz at this point has a well paid job in Saxony and is making these trips to Berlin solely for Fritz' sake, you can tell how emotionally invested he must have been, to put up with the prospect of angry FW.
Indeed, and you can also tell that he was completely unprepared. I have the impression that Katte is either a very quick thinker, or else he's done something like this before, and the latter seems quite likely.
Quite! It heightens the plausibility of the whole event and the reliability of Quantz as a narrator to no end.
Heh, mildred will find it hilarious that my passive memory is, while good, not nearly as useful as hers is because my passive memory doesn't cross-reference well! That is to say, once she used the keyword "redcoats" I was like "oh yeah, of course" (because we also did the American Revolution every year) but if you'd asked me "what colors did the Brits wear in the 18th century?" I would have flailed for at least a bit.
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
Okay, I find it hilarious that he had different hairstyles for morning and afternoon! (I get the overall point, though.)
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.
What I find hilarious is that "redcoats" was a keyword for you too! Ah, American education.
my passive memory is, while good, not nearly as useful as hers is because my passive memory doesn't cross-reference well!
To be fair, even as a kid/teenager, I had more points than just the American Revolution to cross-reference on this. Namely the French and Indian War (=the Seven Years' War in North America!), in which I learned repeatedly that the Native Americans waged successful guerrilla warfare while the Brits wandered around the forest in in bright red coats like idiotic walking targets until they finally were forced to adapt their tactics (no idea whether this is true, but it's what I learned in school), and also a Simon and Garfunkel song that I loved, "Scarborough Fair/Canticle," which has the line "blazing in scarlet battalions," which I always took to mean the British.
Speaking of the bluecoats though, Prussian blue is a thing to this day, and the possibly better known prussic acid derived from it. Note that the former was named in 1709.
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timeasmymeasure
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.
Re: The FW-Fritz-Quantz-Katte tale (Nicolai version)
Date: 2021-02-25 10:34 pm (UTC)Also, I did not know about the Haarbeutel! I knew that Fritz's hair was done up in a fancy French style as opposed to the Prussian pigtail, but not the detail of what it looked like.
while red as you probably know was what the Brits wore in this era
I don't know about Cahn, but if I'd never read a page of history voluntarily on my own, I would still have had the redcoats drummed ineradicably into my head from year after year of covering the American Revolution in school!
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.
<333
See, Fritz had lots of people being kind to him, he just learned that kindness didn't come from the person in power. (People like his mother and the Münchows obviously had some power over him, and could have chosen to make life worse instead of better for him, but they just as obviously had very, very little power.)
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.
This is interesting, because I always learned that it was Fritz who was wearing a red dressing gown! Ah, look at this, Blanning reports this anecdote and says that Fritz was wearing "a sumptuous red silk dressing gown covered in gold brocade." Not a word about Quantz's coat being red. And his end note (which I had clearly never clicked on before) references Nicolai for the anecdote, with an addendum of "Nicolai was told all this by Quantz. It certainly has the ring of authenticity."
With which I agree, but that's not exactly what Nicolai said. I suspect Blanning did the thing again where he read the source and wrote it up from memory, which we've all been guilty of, and which we've caught him in before (at least that's what I think accounts for his report that Richter spends 9 pages ranting on how Fritz and Fredersdorf just had an intense rococo friendship, when Selena says he does no such thing.
Another minor discrepancy (not Blanning's) is that I keep seeing Katte described as posted outside the door standing guard. (On AO3, for example.) But you can't tell from this account whether he was keeping an eye out at his boyfriend's request, or happened to be hanging around in the palace, got wind of FW's approach, and went running to warn Fritz.
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.
Nice bit of characterization, though. Quantz is frozen with panic (it sounds like), and Katte is ON IT. Just what I would expect of him. <3 And that's even more interesting given that Quantz is the narrator and has no incentive to make Katte sound better at his own expense.
Re: The FW-Fritz-Quantz-Katte tale (Nicolai version)
Date: 2021-02-26 07:35 am (UTC)Indeed. knew you'd be happy this is not a headcanon you have to abandon. :)
I did not know about the Haarbeutel! I knew that Fritz's hair was done up in a fancy French style as opposed to the Prussian pigtail, but not the detail of what it looked like.
Der Thronfolger, which restages this scene pretty faithfully, nonetheless drew the line at a Haarbeutel, I realise retrospectively, and so FW having a go at Fritz' hairstyle in addition to everything else sort of comes out of nowwhere because Fritz' hair doesn't look so different from how it does in other scenes (except he's not wearing a wig, which he usually does when with Dad).
This is interesting, because I always learned that it was Fritz who was wearing a red dressing gown!
So have I, and I think what happened is the similar as with the MT quip made by someone else and then attributed to Fritz; at some point in the retelling, someone decided that no one cares what Quantz wore on that occasion, red or not, the point is what Fritz wears, so instead of just a golden brocade dressing gown, he gets a golden-brocade-and-red-silk dressing gown.
BTW, since Quantz at this point has a well paid job in Saxony and is making these trips to Berlin solely for Fritz' sake, you can tell how emotionally invested he must have been, to put up with the prospect of angry FW. (Who'd have thought nothing of beating up a mere commoner and musician, one assumes.)
when Selena says he does no such thing
The way I recall it is that he says Fritz loved Fredersdorf like a father loves his son, full stop; he definitely does not say intense rocco friendship (that's more Schmidt-Lötzen's approach to Lehndorff's everything in his introduction), not least because Fredersdorf of course is in no way Fritz' equal and not interesting in himself, etc, but he can be loved like a son (by nineteen years old Fritz, when Fredersdorf is three years older). And at a different point in the book Richter rants somewhat about the modern tendency to Freudianize and sexualize everything, but not related to Fritz/Fredersdorf. The one several pages (might be nine) lecture we get is on Fritz/EC, i.e. Fritz' bad behavior towards her, which is the sole thing he critiques Fritz for, but explains as being the result of FW "raping his young soul" - he does say vergewaltigen, rape - into this marriage. The rant against the modern psychonalytic approach becomes hypocritcal when at yet another point, he diagnoses Wilhelmine as suffering from hysteria.
Quantz is frozen with panic (it sounds like), and Katte is ON IT. Just what I would expect of him. <3 And that's even more interesting given that Quantz is the narrator and has no incentive to make Katte sound better at his own expense.
Quite! It heightens the plausibility of the whole event and the reliability of Quantz as a narrator to no end.
Re: The FW-Fritz-Quantz-Katte tale (Nicolai version)
Date: 2021-02-27 06:25 pm (UTC)Quite! It heightens the plausibility of the whole event and the reliability of Quantz as a narrator to no end.
Okay, this is really cool and also not something I had got from it on a first reading, so thank you both <3
Re: The FW-Fritz-Quantz-Katte tale (Nicolai version)
Date: 2021-02-27 07:23 pm (UTC)That makes sense, and also, if you, who haven't read Blanning, have also read it elsewhere, then Blanning might well have not only been going from memory of Nicolai but also remembering another source he had read.
BTW, since Quantz at this point has a well paid job in Saxony and is making these trips to Berlin solely for Fritz' sake, you can tell how emotionally invested he must have been, to put up with the prospect of angry FW.
Indeed, and you can also tell that he was completely unprepared. I have the impression that Katte is either a very quick thinker, or else he's done something like this before, and the latter seems quite likely.
Quite! It heightens the plausibility of the whole event and the reliability of Quantz as a narrator to no end.
Exactly!
Re: The FW-Fritz-Quantz-Katte tale (Nicolai version)
Date: 2021-02-27 06:22 pm (UTC)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
Okay, I find it hilarious that he had different hairstyles for morning and afternoon! (I get the overall point, though.)
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.
Heh, that is an excellent punchline. Poor Quantz.
Re: The FW-Fritz-Quantz-Katte tale (Nicolai version)
Date: 2021-02-28 01:16 pm (UTC)my passive memory is, while good, not nearly as useful as hers is because my passive memory doesn't cross-reference well!
To be fair, even as a kid/teenager, I had more points than just the American Revolution to cross-reference on this. Namely the French and Indian War (=the Seven Years' War in North America!), in which I learned repeatedly that the Native Americans waged successful guerrilla warfare while the Brits wandered around the forest in in bright red coats like idiotic walking targets until they finally were forced to adapt their tactics (no idea whether this is true, but it's what I learned in school), and also a Simon and Garfunkel song that I loved, "Scarborough Fair/Canticle," which has the line "blazing in scarlet battalions," which I always took to mean the British.
Speaking of the bluecoats though, Prussian blue is a thing to this day, and the possibly better known prussic acid derived from it. Note that the former was named in 1709.