Frederick the Great ( I )

Frederick's character was extraordinary, even more remarkable perhaps than his military and other talents. He maintained his self restraint and firm judgement  throughout his several wars, despite defeats as well as victories, and when the whole  burden of the State and the wars rested with him alone. So his upbringing is of central interest, and indeed many studies have examined the years before his marriage (when he might be regarded as having to an extent settled down,  even though it was a marriage of convenience).  But despite a number of enquiries not one of the experts in this area of history that I have contacted has noted any link to his Great Uncle, the Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg (1677 - 1734)

Christian Ludwig's name is familiar to music lovers as the man to whom Bach sent in 1723 the music we know as the Brandenburg Concertos. The two had met in Berlin  during a visit by Bach, and perhaps when later sending the Concertos Bach hoped for a job in Berlin. But the Margrave  was a younger son and  not a ruling prince. The revenues of Prussia where in the hands of his nephew, King Frederick William I,  Frederick's father.  Christian Ludwig maintained a small orchestra, it is thought without the necessary range of instrumental players to perform the Concertos. But my point is that from 1712 when Frederick was born,  until his marriage in 1733, and during the years when he was in adolescent revolt against his father the King, Christian Ludwig was around, not dying till 1734.

Were they in contact? Frederick was intensely musical - he played  and  later wrote for the flute, and his compositions were said by Mozart to have content. He had a small musical band. But this and his other cultural activities were not appreciated by his father Frederick William, who preferred building up his army (which Frederick would later make use of) and smoking with his cronies.  It seems impossible that the two musical enthusiasts - Frederick and his Great Uncle - did not meet and discuss the things that Frederick could not discuss with his father, or the Court, who were careful of the King's wrath. And Frederick could discuss music with his band only as a Prince. With Christian Ludwig he could talk freely to someone of his own rank, who could be a mentor, and a kind of confessor. Indeed what a release for him if it happened  -  this is a factor very relevant to the development  of Frederick's  character. And if it did not happen why not? Did the King prevent it?