With respect to the biographical video accounts of Bologne’s life and Wikipedia’s entry, I would situate myself between the two. However, I have to state that it is amazing that the black Mozart should have influenced Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is equally amazing that as the Director of the Concert de la Loge Olympique, he should have commissioned Symphonies from Franz Joseph Haydn (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809), the famous “Paris Symphonies” (1785-1786), and premièred them.
The Chevalier de Saint-George was an esteemed composer and conductor as well as a virtuoso violinist. Moreover, he was an accomplished swordsman and equestrian. He was admired by George IV of England, the Prince of Wales, which is not a trivial detail. Would that Saint-George had fled to England rather than join the French army when the French Revolution started to spin out of control.
In Wikipedia’s entry on Joseph Bologne, mention is made of “a famous portrait of him [Saint-George] crossing swords in an exhibition match with the French transvestite spy-in-exile, the Chevalier d’Éon, in the presence of the Prince of Wales, Britain’s future king George IV.” The famous portrait is the above “satire.”
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Allow me to begin this post by speaking of the two Mozarts: the white Mozart or Amadeus, and the black Mozart, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George.
When Mozart, the white Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was in Paris, in 1777-1778, he was influenced by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George. One would expect the white Mozart to have influenced the black Mozart, but that was not the case. However, the two differ in that the career of the black Mozart (December 25, 1745 – June 10, 1799) was affected by his ethnicity and the French Revolution. Three divas opposed his appointment as director of the Royal Opera because he was a mulatto.
However, by then, Joseph had commissioned and premièred Haydn six “Paris Symphonies” and he had met the white Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus during his 1777-1778 visit to Paris. It is during his stay in Paris that the former Wolfgang Theophilus, the white Mozart, lost his mother. She had accompanied him on this tour, but was taken ill and died on 3 July 1778. Wolfgang was 22 at that time and Joseph, 33.
However the French Revolution all but destroyed Joseph whose patrons were Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. As we know, he was Marie-Antoinette’s music teacher. Marie-Antoinette composed “C’est mon ami,” a lovely pastoral song.
Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges: L’amant anonyme (1780),
Ballet Nº 1
Joseph Bologne was born in Guadeloupe, in 1745, and was educated both in Guadeloupe and in France. In Saint-Domingue, Joseph had studied music with the black violinist Joseph Platon. But after his family emigrated to France, in 1752, he was enrolled in a private academy and is believed to have been a pupil of Antonio Lolli, one of the finest Italian violinists of the eighteen century. As for composition, it would appear that his mentor was Francois Joseph Gossec, a fine composer remembered for writing a lovely gavotte, a piece of music often incorporated in a suite or a partita, but rooted in a French folk dance.[i]
Joseph Bologne at Versailles
As we know already, in France, his musical talent opened the best possible doors. Joseph Bologne was Marie-Antoinette’s music teacher and became the maestro of the Concert des Amateurs,[ii] “a title of extreme respect given to a master musician” (Wikipedia). He was then appointed director of the Concert de la Loge Olympique, the largest orchestra of his time (65-70 musicians).
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George
The World Première of Haydn’s Paris Symphonies, but the divas…
It is in his capacity as director of the Concert de la Loge Olympique, that he directed the world première of Haydn’s six “Paris Symphonies” which had been commissioned by the Concert de la Loge Olympique. So, as a denizen of Versailles, Joseph Bologne met Haydn and he also met the white Mozart. He is one individual whose talent helped override ethnicity, but not altogether. When Saint-George was appointed director of the Royal Opera of Louis XVI, three divas opposed Saint-George‘s appointment because he was a mulatto.
Being a mulatto had already been a threat in Joseph’s life. Before Joseph’s father emigrated to France, he had to flee Guadeloupe where he was suspected of murder. He sought refuge in France to prevent Nanon and Joseph from being sold as slaves. Moreover, on 5 April 1762, King Louis XV decreed that people of color, nègres and mulattos, had to register with the clerk of the Admiralty. Both Nanon and Joseph were registered. Nanon was registered as being 34 years old. As for Joseph, he was mistakenly registered as Joseph Boulogne by La Boëssière, his master of arms. It could be that, by then, Georges, Joseph’s father, had returned to Guadeloupe. After the Seven Years’ War, France had chosen to keep Guadeloupe rather than New France.
Joseph as Swordsman and Equestrian
His career as a musician may have suffered because of the divas’s refusal to be seen next to a mulatto, but Joseph has other talents. La Boëssière had a fine student. Joseph became one of the finest swordsmen in Europe, if not the finest, as well as an extraordinary equestrian. His talents and reputation as an athlete served him well when divas rejected him. He excelled as an athlete and it brought him recognition.
Joseph as Soldier
But Joseph de Bolo(u)gne is remembered not as an athlete but as a prolific composer of the classical era (Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven). His compositions are listed in his Wikipedia entry. Joseph served in the army of the Revolution against France’s foreign enemies, but he is not known to have participated in the misfortune of his student, Marie-Antoinette, and her husband. On the contrary, his father having been ennobled in 1757, Joseph was an aristocrat at a time in history when aristocrats were almost systematically executed.
False Accusations
Technically speaking, Joseph de Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George survived the French Revolution, but barely. In 1793, he was accused of using “public funds for personal gain.” (Wikipedia). He was acquitted, but in the meantime he had spent 18 months in jail and upon his release, he no longer had patrons. Most had been guillotined. Joseph did direct orchestras on a few occasions, but too few. He died a poor man, in 1799 at the age of 54.
I have not paid much attention to Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George’s role in the military. Moreover I do not know why Napoléon ordered that the Chevalier’s works be destroyed. I need to read the books that are now being published on Joseph Bologne. These and CDs of his music are available from Amazon.com. Moreover, there are biographical videos on YouTube. I will insert them in a separate post.
Conclusion
In the history of music, Joseph de Bologne is considered an important figure not only because of the music he composed, but also because he was one of the earliest black musicians to compose what we call “classical music.” In fact, he composed during the “classical era” (1730-1820). But his story is nevertheless rather sad. His rise to success was extremely rapid, but he was a mulatto, the ‘black Mozart.’ Moreover, he was jailed for a crime he had not committed.
Begonia, by Paul-Émile Borduas, 14 January 1924
Paul-Émile Borduas (November 1, 1905 – February 22, 1960)
Photo credit: National Gallery of Canada
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