Note 4 — Chapter I · PARENTAGE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.
Reading edition
“It was the queen-mother who encouraged the prince in his favorite amusement, and who engaged musicians for his service. But so necessary was secrecy in all these negotiations that if the king, his father, had discovered he was disobeyed, all these sons of Apollo would have incurred the danger of being hanged. The prince frequently took occasion to meet his musicians a-hunting, and had his concerts either in a forest or cavern.”—Burney, Present State of Music in Germany, ii., 139.