Prince Henry of Prussia, Brother of Frederick The Great

In this pioneering new work, based on a thorough re-reading of primary sources and new research in the Austrian State Archives, Franz Szabo presents a fascinating reassessment of the continental war.

An enthusiastic amateur flautist, Frederick the Great always gave music a key place in his daily schedule, as can be seen in the musical ornaments in the decoration of his palace. Indeed, the Music Room is one of the finest rooms in this little Rococo jewel. Works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and his father Johann Sebastian, as well as Johann Gottlieb Graun and the King of Prussia himself are the central focus of this programme. They vividly evoke the musical atmosphere for which Sanssouci was the most elegant showcase.

Prussia as a nation-state, as a cultural state, as a military power: beyond these one-dimensional ideas, Ottmar Ette's new book unfolds the picture of a multi-perspective Prussia. From Anton Wilhelm Amo, the first black philosopher to matriculate at a Prussian university, to Frederick the Great's projection of the Prussian polity onto New Spain and the reign of Moctezuma, to the Dutch philosopher Cornelius de Pauw, who published his works in French in Berlin and fueled the worldwide Berlin debate about the New World: Buried traditions of a history that have been expatriated from the common image of Prussia come to life. Ottmar Ette tells of mobile Prussians whose relationships arrange themselves into Prussia as a mobile.