Episode description

Enlightenment monarch! Composer of hundreds of flute concertos. Emerged from the “sandbox of the Holy Roman Empire" to conquer vast swaths of Europe! Built a giant pink palace his wife wasn't allowed to visit. Worst dad in Bad Gays history? "Everything that speaks to eyes and touches hearts, Was found in the fond object that enflamed his parts." 

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SOURCES:

Blanning, Tim. Frederick the Great: King of Prussia. New York: Random House, 2016.

Gaines, James. Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment. New York: Harper Collins, 2010.

Hadley, Kathryn (with Vanessa de Senarclens). "Frederick the Great's Erotic Poem." HistoryToday, 21 September, 2011. https://www.historytoday.com/frederick-greats-erotic-poem

The brief excerpt of Frederick the Great's Flute Concerto in C Major, No. 3, is performed by Emmanuel Pahud and the Kammerakademie Potsdam, led by Trevor Pinnock at the Harpsichord; we claim "fair use" for quotation and illustration purposes and encourage listeners who appreciate the extraordinary performance to purchase or legally stream it in full. Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.