King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786. A bright representative of enlightened absolutism, the founder of Prussian-German statehood. Friedrich proved himself as a patron of the sciences and arts. The King established the Royal Opera in 1742. In addition, the king himself was gifted musically, played the flute and composed music (121 Sonatas for flute and digital bass, 3 symphonies and 4 concertos for flute and string orchestra, Concerto for 2 flutes and harpsichord, marches, arias). Frederick II's compositions for flute are still included in the repertoire of performers on this instrument. He was one of the first to introduce recitative into instrumental music, which was most clearly manifested in his Sonata in C Minor for Flute and Digital Bass. Like his teacher I. I. Quantz, he was an adherent of musical rhetoric. In addition to the aforementioned works of secular music, Friedrich is considered the creator of the Hohenfriedberg March — one of the most famous German military marches. Regularly, sometimes nightly, chamber music concerts were held in Sans Souci for a narrow circle, where the works of the king himself and I. I. Quantz were performed. They also soloed. According to biographers, Frederick II played the flute until his teeth began to fall out. In the field of music, Frederick II was also famous for the fact that in 1747 he invited Johann Sebastian Bach to Potsdam. The result of this meeting was the Musical Offering of Bach — a large cycle of works written on a theme composed and proposed to Bach by the king. This theme has gone down in music history as the "royal theme". Major composers and instrumentalists of his time lived and worked at the court of the king. String instruments of the best Italian masters Amati and Stradivari were purchased for the chapel.
