Imagine, by candlelight, an ebony flute with the color of a Baroque traverso, and a 7-string guitar with the clarity of a harpsichord and the bass depth of a theorbo: all the conditions are in place to offer the listener an immersive evening in the intimate atmosphere of the salon of the Château de Sans-Souci, home of the famous Prussian King Frederick the Great.

 

 

Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great, was King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786. A central political figure in 18th-century Europe, renowned for his military conquests, he made Prussia one of the great European powers of the century. He was also a musician and music lover, and set out to develop the musical life of 18th-century Europe: he had a palace built near Berlin in the image of Versailles, where he received philosophers and musicians.

 

This enlightened monarch, a composer and flautist, surrounded himself with the finest musicians and composers who would go on to form the Berlin School. Frederick II of Prussia took up composition himself, and suggested a musical theme to Johann Sebastian Bach, which he used to compose his famous Musical Offering in 1747.

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