A pleasant and interesting account is recorded of the meeting of J.S. Bach with the Emperor. It was on a Sunday evening in the spring of 1747, as the Emperor was about to open his concert with a flute solo, the stranger’s list was brought to him. Having read it, flute in hand, he turned to the band and said excitedly, “Gentlemen, old Bach is come.” The flute was laid aside, and Bach was sent for at once, no time being allowed him even to change his travelling dress. The elaborately formal greetings over, Bach was invited to try the numerous Silbermann pianos distributed through the palace, the band following from room to room as he tried each instrument. Frederick expressed a desire to hear a six-part fugue, which Bach then improvised with the utmost skill on a theme given to him by the King. Next day, wishing to hear him on his more congenial instrument, the King escorted Bach to all the organs in Potsdam.
One outcome of this visit was the so-called “Musical Offering” which Bach wrote on his return to Leipzig. It consists of an elaborate working out of the royal theme named above, and the work is dedicated to the Emperor.[9]
It is said that the Emperor’s chamber concerts were dominated by himself and his flute, for virtually the only music performed was that of Frederick himself and his master, Quantz. Artistically there does not seem much to commend in this, and indeed, if accurately recorded, it raises serious doubts of the Emperor’s musicianship. But nevertheless the compositions which this remarkable man left behind him are of a kind to make one pause before accepting such a view of the matter, for at the command of the present German Emperor, and under the editorship of such eminent musical authorities as Spitta, Count Waldersee, and Barge, four volumes of these compositions have been published. They consist of twenty-five sonatas for flute and piano, and four concertos for flute and stringed orchestra.
The Emperor Frederick’s Compositions
“An examination of the King’s musical MSS., made at the instance of the Minister of Education, has shown that the compositions, written entirely by the King himself, are not only of historical interest, but exhibit command of artistic form and talent for musical invention; a healthy musical life breathes through them; the slow pieces frequently surprise us by their beautiful melodies full of warm feeling, and by their brilliant passages. Such fervour inspires them that the publication of these noble works, which solaced the monarch amid the troubles of his country and in his old age, in the loneliness of his high office, will present the personality of the great King in a new and important aspect. The notion that Frederick merely sought an agreeable pastime in flute-playing will be removed by this edition of his works; his admirers will learn to see in old Fritz a creative musician of deep feeling and noble simplicity.”[10]
The following fragment, which is quoted from the slow movement (Grave) of the Emperor’s Third Concerto, will show better than any mere description the quality of his music, which certainly warrants the expressions given below from Professor Spitta’s preface to the edition referred to above:—
From the 3rd Concerto for Flute and Strings.
Frederick the Great.
