cahn | 18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 34

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And 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)

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From:

mildred_of_midgard

Yeah, he's definitely not an exciting biographer who brings his subject matter alive, but I'm actually glad I read the Eugene one. I even ended up rereading parts of it. For those of us who *are* interested in the military history of the War of the Spanish Succession, he gave a pretty clear and, dare I say it, interesting account. ;)

I haven't had time to read the Great Elector one yet, but it's on my list.

ETA: Meant to say, I would love it if you read a bio of the Great Elector more focused on the human side and did "un write up" for us!

Say about Nancy G. what you want, but she can tell a story.

I know! She's great! That's why I wanted to do a readalong. So disappointing.

Instead, you have a lot about the various mlitary compaigns and treaties, which without previous human investment isn't where my interest lies.

From flipping through it when it arrived, I indeed saw that this was what it focused on, and I admit that I'm looking forward to it. ;)

Speaking of biographies, have you been able to ascertain whether the Stabi's copy of Leopold is in German or not? I'm just curious whether it's worth the horrendous expense of shipping these volumes to the US for my Leopold interests. But it's going to be months before I get around to it (the reading list grows ever longer! in both German and English!), so definitely no rush.

Edited Date: 2022-02-09 02:29 pm (UTC)

From:

selenak

Leopold: I found a more recent Austrian biography at Stabi which I've ordered, and will tell you the result. Incidentally, Stabi also has the Leopold/Joseph correspondence (edited by Arneth) and the Leopold/Marie Christine correspondence (edited by Adam Wolf) completley online... in the original French. (Other than a German preface each.) Sigh.

The Great Elector: Ordered two biographies from the Stabi while I was at it.

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Excellent, thank you on all counts!

Correspondence: how badly do you want it? I can look into Google translate...

From:

selenak

Ask me again once I've read the Leopold bio...

From:

mildred_of_midgard

While we're on the subject of biographies (which I usually am these days ;)), do you know if Uwe Schultz is notably good or bad? The Kindle sample of his Mazarin bio seems readable enough, but his other bios I'm eyeing (Richelieu, Louis XIV, Henri IV) are hard-copy only.

Edited Date: 2022-02-09 10:31 pm (UTC)