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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)
Re: Klement: the Weber Version - I
Date: 2022-01-31 12:42 am (UTC)Heh.
The Crown Prince who's supposed to pretend to escape so he can become King of Hungary is FW, guys.
....wow!
Philip the future frog
I gotta say this is both hilarious and also a greeeeat way of reminding me which Philip this was :P
August the Strong, who thought this actually did not sound much like the Eugene he'd met a couple of times.
Heeee. It seems remarkable that he got away with so much for so long (until he overreached himself) but... I guess a lot of people hear what they want to, in any century.
Weber uses Pöllnitz on the bonkers Klement affair as a reliable source, and thus includes the bit with the dramatic scene where Old Dessauer confronts a deeply paranoid FW who has taken to sleeping with his pistols under his bed and lies down his sword in front of him.
Gotta say I still love this story :D
Old Dessauer thinks it's all rubbish and advises to at least ask Flemming and Eugene for a comment.
Old Dessauer has some good advice!
the secretary of Katte's grandpa Wartensleben, Bube, who borrows the clothing of a female "moor" to escape in disguise, but is controlled and outed.
OMG. I agree with all of you, this is so crazy you would hardly be able to put it in a movie!
Re: Klement: the Weber Version - I
Date: 2022-01-31 08:12 am (UTC)....wow!
I suspect Klement might have dimly recalled that FW's father F1 had done a runner when being Crown Prince. (Or rather, Kurprinz, since there was no Kingdom of Prussia yet and thus no Crown.) However, he clearly hadn't met FW yet, otherwise the idea of FW a) able to pretend anything, and b) successfully faking being disobedient to his father (FW who prides himself on having been the perfect son even with a father whom he fundamentally disagreed with) would have been squashed as soon as it occured.
(BTW, I don't mean FW was incapable of lying or attempting deception, just that he was really bad at it. See his letter to Grandma of how French gossip has it all wrong and of course he doesn't beat up his servants, he knows how a prince ought to behave!)
BTW, what's interesting is that (Not so Old yet) Dessauer, who loathed Grumbkow - and Grumbkow had been fingered by Klement as one of the guilty parties in the big Kidnapping & Murder conspiracy - was so sceptical from the start not just on his own account, and didn't use the opportunity to say, sure, Grumbkow so would, why don't you execute him or at least banish him, and when the investigation, which he got to spearhead, did find various bribed people only accused them of what he'd found (like Frau von Baspiel of her Manteuffel & Flemming correspondence), instead of attempting to make them confess what FW very much wanted to hear. Innate sense of order, innate sense of justice, or awareness that if they go to war about a fake accusation with Saxony and/or the Empire, this will not be good for anyone?
Re: Klement: the Weber Version - I
Date: 2022-01-31 01:03 pm (UTC)Some innate sense of order, maybe, but from what I've learnt about Old Dessauer so far, I'd suggest an innate sense of 'honour', for whatever warped personal definition of that he used. One that saw lies and schemes as something that was beneath him I'd say, which means not getting into wars for fake reasons on one hand, but also making speeches about how he'd have killed the Duke of Orleans and his family on the other. See also: his attempted duel with Grumbkow (instead of getting rid of him through third means like you suggested), his going through with marrying a commoner when he could have kept her as a mistress, even bringing back Grundling - because in his eyes, it wouldn't have been honourable to flee the country, unlike fulfilling your role as the "court fool" and enduring the whims of your superiors (which would have included himself), just as the soldiers had to endure his ideas of Prussian Discipline.