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cahnAnd including Emperor Joseph II!
from Derek Beales: Joseph II, Volume 2: Against the World, 1780 - 1790:
Joseph's alleged comment to Mozart about the Entführung, "Too many notes", has been taken as evidence of his ignorance. But he probably said something like, "Too beautiful for our ears, and monstrous many notes." It is always necessary to bear in mind, when appraising the emperor's remarks, his peculiar brand of humor or sarcasm. He was usually getting at someone. And he did not use the royal "we". The ears in question were those of the Viennese audience, whom he was mocking for their limited appreciation of Mozart's elaborate music.
(though not gonna lie, I think it is a LOT of notes)
from Derek Beales: Joseph II, Volume 2: Against the World, 1780 - 1790:
Joseph's alleged comment to Mozart about the Entführung, "Too many notes", has been taken as evidence of his ignorance. But he probably said something like, "Too beautiful for our ears, and monstrous many notes." It is always necessary to bear in mind, when appraising the emperor's remarks, his peculiar brand of humor or sarcasm. He was usually getting at someone. And he did not use the royal "we". The ears in question were those of the Viennese audience, whom he was mocking for their limited appreciation of Mozart's elaborate music.
(though not gonna lie, I think it is a LOT of notes)
A Fritz podcast episode with some hilarious claims
Date: 2022-01-27 11:11 am (UTC)I think the thing that baffled me the most was the insistence that Sanssouci is pink. When I read the blurb I naturally thought it was talking about the Palais, which, yes, arguably pink, but no, the "historian" in the podcast insists that Sanssouci is "pink, pink, pink". Five SECONDS of googling will show you what utter horseshit that is, even if you've never heard of the most iconic YELLOW Hohenzollern castle. Man. Save for some chairs, it's not even pink on the inside (even though he insists on that as well)!
The thing that probably baffled AW and Heinrich most: FW didn't execute Fritz in 1730 because a) it would have "looked too bad", and b) there were no younger brothers to carry on the bloodline.
AW and Heinrich: *baffled*
Ferdinand: You know, I'm kind of used to this.
The thing that might baffle Fritz the most (apart from the Sanssouci blunder): "Like many gay men, he was attracted to a certain kind of powerful woman, that's why he wanted to marry Empress regent Maria Theresia in the early 1730s." . . . Yep.
And the thing that might baffle Biche the most: Fritz rode into battle holding his greyhounds. When I was going to sleep, I realized where that bit must have come from: the Fritz-and-Biche-almost-get-caught anecdote and the iconic illustration where he's holding her while hiding under a bridge. But still, that's quite the leap to "in battle".
OH, also! FW personally held Fritz' eyes open when Katte was executed. No Peter in this, the boyfriends mentioned are Katte (naturally), Algarotti (the orgasm poem gets read in full at the very beginning), and Fredersdorf (who had a "pretty face", as Fritz wrote in his diary (Fritz, you have been holding out on us! Where's this diary? (Lehndorff? Who is that?))). Which is at least a decent selection I guess, something for everyone. :P
Re: A Fritz podcast episode with some hilarious claims
Date: 2022-01-27 01:26 pm (UTC)otherfanfics, though I don't think I've read him holding Fritz' eyes open yet.As for the pink palace, yeah, I got nothing. Well, I guess someone somewhere saw a photo of the Neues Palais and thought it was the main building? Doesn't explain the pink interior, though.
No younger brothers: here even my imagination fails at coming up with an explanation. I mean, at the very least, how to do they think the Hohenzollern line continued, given that Fritz had no kids? Why was there W2 around to bother the world in WWI? Where did he come from?
Re: A Fritz podcast episode with some hilarious claims
Date: 2022-01-27 02:16 pm (UTC)Oh, I sure know that, thanks to you, and apparently podcast guy found out about it as well - and then googled MT without checking his dates re: Dad's death and subsequently came up with the out-of-nowhere explanation that Fritz was into powerful women, even though he rather famously very much wasn't? I don't know.
Speaking of Voltaire's memoirs, they do get a mention - as a source for the homosexual lifestyle of course - as does the fact that Voltaire lived in Sanssouci for a while and then fled "under mysterious circumstances, in the middle of the night". Noooot really all that mysterious, guys! Both he and Fritz made damn sure of that!
I guess someone somewhere saw a photo of the Neues Palais and thought it was the main building?
Thing is, the guy sounds like he's been there himself, complete with "if you are ever in Berlin, make the trip, it's awesome and even gayer than I described, I promise". And yet, quote: Frederick "built himself an enormous pink rococo palace on top of a giant staircase with fountains and great trellises and called it Sanssouci". I got nothing either.
how to do they think the Hohenzollern line continued, given that Fritz had no kids?
Matrilinear maybe? They are aware that he didn't have kids and was succeeded by his nephew at least, even mention the grave episode.
Re: A Fritz podcast episode with some hilarious claims
Date: 2022-01-27 03:43 pm (UTC)And kudos to the podcast for knowing this, since we didn't at the beginning of salon, but--because she was empress regent?! And because he was attracted to this?! Even if you don't know his motivations, you can check her dates, as
As for the pink palace, yeah, I got nothing. Well, I guess someone somewhere saw a photo of the Neues Palais and thought it was the main building?
To be fair, Fritz himself had his books stamped "S" for "Sanssouci" at the Neues Palais, but it's still not a "giant pink palace his wife wasn't allowed to visit"!
And even if it *was* pink, pink, pink...pink coding as feminine/gay was a 20th century development! It wouldn't mean what I take the podcast to be implying it means! Wrong on so many levels.
I mean, at the very least, how to do they think the Hohenzollern line continued, given that Fritz had no kids?
Post-1730 younger brothers?
Re: A Fritz podcast episode with some hilarious claims
Date: 2022-01-28 06:25 am (UTC)otherfanficsI also laughed really hard at this :D
Re: A Fritz podcast episode with some hilarious claims
Date: 2022-01-27 06:30 pm (UTC)Oh, man. It's also not GIANT! I can only assume Selena is correct and they think Sanssouci = Neues Palais.
Ferdinand: You know, I'm kind of used to this.
Ahahaha, I laughed so hard. I'm sneaking this reply into today's lunch break because I had to tell you how AWESOME all your commentary is!
No Peter in this,
I mean, that's fair. But even if they never did anything other than kiss hands and write self-insert fanfic called "Pamela", Voltaire counts! :P
Re: A Fritz podcast episode with some hilarious claims
Date: 2022-01-28 06:39 am (UTC)Though yeah, why anyone who even did the mininum bit of research would call Voltaire's departure "mysterious" given all the ink spilled by both Fritz and Voltaire on that subject is beyond me...
Re: A Fritz podcast episode with some hilarious claims
Date: 2022-01-28 06:23 am (UTC)So I googled and yeah, that's a lot of yellow :) I did get a few images of the Neues Palais (including a couple of things that say things like "Sanssouci tickets and tours," by which I assume they mean the entire place) but... I had to scroll down a bit to even get those!
AW and Heinrich: *baffled*
Ferdinand: You know, I'm kind of used to this.
I laughed really hard :D
Heinrich: Well, it's true that I wasn't exactly going to carry on the bloodline...
AW: Does this mean Fritz will stop writing me letters about how I'm supposed to be the Hohenzollern stud?
The thing that might baffle Fritz the most (apart from the Sanssouci blunder): "Like many gay men, he was attracted to a certain kind of powerful woman, that's why he wanted to marry Empress regent Maria Theresia in the early 1730s." . . . Yep.
Wow, that's... something. Though, I mean, he had her portrait! :P (I still am delighted at him trolling everyone with that.)
Fritz rode into battle holding his greyhounds.
OMG!
Re: A Fritz podcast episode with some hilarious claims
Date: 2022-01-28 10:14 am (UTC)Heinrich: Well, it's true that I wasn't exactly going to carry on the bloodline...
Well, and neither was Fritz, as it turned out.
AW: Does this mean Fritz will stop writing me letters about how I'm supposed to be the Hohenzollern stud?
Or even the Hohenzollern hen, for variety and maximum annoyance?
Ferdinand: Well, I not only married my niece but had more children than all my brothers together! Or as my nephew Henricus Minor called it: the Tonterlontontonnerie.* (What do you mean, some people claim the kids weren't actually mine? There's no reliable primary source for this.)
*ETA: I just realized, Henricus M can't have included all the kids when he referred to his uncle's family that way, since only the oldest was born when he died in 1767. My bad.
Re: A Fritz podcast episode with some hilarious claims
Date: 2022-01-30 04:06 pm (UTC)Ferdinand: Well, I not only married my niece but had more children than all my brothers together! Or as my nephew Henricus Minor called it: the Tonterlontontonnerie.* (What do you mean, some people claim the kids weren't actually mine? There's no reliable primary source for this.)
Hee! I'd forgotten Ferdinand actually had lots of kids, or at least his wife did :P Poor Ferdinand, doomed to be forgotten (at least by me) even in a thread where he's name-checked!