Why, in a booklet accompanying a recording of "Flute Music at the Court of Frederick the Great", is an attempt being made at this point to take a look into the soul of a damaged monarch? There is a guiding "thread of Ariadne" that leads through the labyrinthine trials and tribulations of Frederick's life and suffering - a singular passion that he discovered at a young age and never forgot throughout his life. It is the love of music, especially the love of playing the "flûte traversière".