Adolph Menzels »Flötenkonzert Friedrichs des Großen in Sanssouci« Ein vertrautes Gemälde, 150 Jahre nach seiner Fertigstellung neu gesehen

Since 1852, when Adolph Menzel finished painting his "Flötenkonzert in Sanssouci", the work remained one of the main documents demonstrating musical interests of Frederic the Great. The composition with sixteen figures, shows the king playing the flute, placed in the central position, but without any visible contact to the audience and his court musicians. Menzel was well aware of the divertissement practice in courtly life, and he purposely isolated the king to emphasize his significance as a sovereign monarch: the fortepiano is closed, his accompanist Carl Philipp Emanual Bach sits in the wrong position, and the string players are waiting. The study of the painting examines the historic and portrait genres, numerous Menzel's preparatory sketches, and his early ideas and illustration concepts found in Franz Kuglers Geschichte Friedrichs des Grossen (1840-42).