I also thought the intimacy and choice of German fit way more with Crown Prince Fritz than King Fritz, but I also couldn't make sense of the "bau" or of Peter being able to travel at will!
However, your point about autumn being Wusterhausen time is an excellent one: for Fritz being especially miserable, for Peter being separated from them (minimal servants--as we saw, there was no place for anyone to sleep anyway!), and for Peter being able to sneak out and come visit.
And while "Melancholie" and a desire for the company of others would fit him for his entire life, the tone really reminds me of a letter he wrote to his friend Lt. Borcke in 1727 from Wusterhausen, when Borcke was sick, saying, "I admit that I ought to amuse you with this letter, but rather than give pleasure to others, I need amusement myself to banish my melancholy."
The "bau" is still confusing, and given that Fritz is putting Peter in charge of sculpting in 1755, would make far, far more sense in the 1750s, but in total, it's still much less confusing than how King Fritz could have had a relationship like this with Peter and Lehndorff not tell us about it. ;)
If it's written by Crown Prince Fritz, it means enough to Peter that he carried it with him through all the exile years.
<3333 It also apparently meant enough that he kept it during the page years, despite it containing enough evidence of debts and sneaking out to incriminate both him and Fritz!
In conclusion, if I were going to date this, I would tentatively date it to 1727-1728. 1729 is a possibility, but Peter and Fritz were trying to escape from Potsdam in November 1729, and this doesn't seem consistent with that. Of course, Fritz possibly means, "Come visit me so we can talk about things I don't dare put in writing," so 1729 is not ruled out.
It would be worth cross-checking Stratemann for when Fritz and FW left Wusterhausen in 1727-1729. I will add that to my increasingly long list of things to do!
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Re: Letter from Fritz...to Peter?
Date: 2023-06-22 03:04 pm (UTC)I also thought the intimacy and choice of German fit way more with Crown Prince Fritz than King Fritz, but I also couldn't make sense of the "bau" or of Peter being able to travel at will!
However, your point about autumn being Wusterhausen time is an excellent one: for Fritz being especially miserable, for Peter being separated from them (minimal servants--as we saw, there was no place for anyone to sleep anyway!), and for Peter being able to sneak out and come visit.
And while "Melancholie" and a desire for the company of others would fit him for his entire life, the tone really reminds me of a letter he wrote to his friend Lt. Borcke in 1727 from Wusterhausen, when Borcke was sick, saying, "I admit that I ought to amuse you with this letter, but rather than give pleasure to others, I need amusement myself to banish my melancholy."
The "bau" is still confusing, and given that Fritz is putting Peter in charge of sculpting in 1755, would make far, far more sense in the 1750s, but in total, it's still much less confusing than how King Fritz could have had a relationship like this with Peter and Lehndorff not tell us about it. ;)
If it's written by Crown Prince Fritz, it means enough to Peter that he carried it with him through all the exile years.
<3333 It also apparently meant enough that he kept it during the page years, despite it containing enough evidence of debts and sneaking out to incriminate both him and Fritz!
In conclusion, if I were going to date this, I would tentatively date it to 1727-1728. 1729 is a possibility, but Peter and Fritz were trying to escape from Potsdam in November 1729, and this doesn't seem consistent with that. Of course, Fritz possibly means, "Come visit me so we can talk about things I don't dare put in writing," so 1729 is not ruled out.
It would be worth cross-checking Stratemann for when Fritz and FW left Wusterhausen in 1727-1729. I will add that to my increasingly long list of things to do!