The King's Flute

While transforming Prussia into a great European military power, Frederick II played the flute almost daily and organized private concerts with several of the most famous musicians of his time. The king himself composes musical works and considers artistic practice an essential part of his political identity.

Frederick II of Prussia received a thorough musical education from his youth despite the opposition of his father, a king extremely attached to military discipline. This tension between artistic culture and warrior power permanently marks his entire public image.Having become king in 1740, Frédéric continued to practice the flute intensively. At the Sans-Souci Palace, he regularly organizes chamber concerts in which renowned composers and instrumentalists such as Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach or Johann Joachim Quantz participate.The sovereign also composed several sonatas and concertos. Even though his works are not generally considered musically revolutionary, they show a real and technically serious artistic commitment. This cultural activity also plays an important diplomatic and political role. Frederick seeks to present the Prussian monarchy as an enlightened state capable of intellectually competing with France or Austria, and not assimple military power.The contrast between the image of the victorious military strategist and that of a king playing the flute in rococo salons permanently fascinates European contemporaries. Several official portraits directly exploit this duality between cultural refinement and warrior authority.