Frederick the Composer and Music Lover

We've talked about Frederick the Great and the idea of an enlightened despot, and one way that he sort of fits this image is his love of music. Growing up as a young boy, Frederick had a passion for the flute, which he supposedly hid from his father who did not think it was a good use of time. Later, he supported a vibrant music culture in his court, including the composing of dozens of his own flute works. He supported many prominent musicians including Carl Emmanuel Philip Bach, the son of the more famous Bach. The real Bach himself actually visited court one time and probably sought to gain favor with the emperor as he was tired of his current position as a musician in a smaller town. Frederick even gave Bach a musical theme that he reworked into a composition called The Musical Offering, which there's a video to below. It was interesting to see a specific way that Frederick supported the arts. Another interesting thing I saw though was the idea that he mostly supported the arts like this to help improve his image and distract from his many warlike activities. Frederick and his love of music show both the positive and more suspicious sides of the idea of him as an enlightened despot.