• Aboriginals in North America
  • Beast Literature
  • Canadiana.1
  • Dances & Music
  • Europe: Ukraine & Russia
  • Fables and Fairy Tales
  • Fables by Jean de La Fontaine
  • Feasts & Liturgy
  • Great Books Online
  • La Princesse de Clèves
  • Middle East
  • Molière
  • Nominations
  • Posts on Love Celebrated
  • Posts on the United States
  • The Art and Music of Russia
  • The French Revolution & Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Voyageurs Posts
  • Canadiana.2

Micheline's Blog

~ Art, music, books, history & current events

Micheline's Blog

Tag Archives: Paris Symphonies

Comments & the News: 14 September 2012

14 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Mulatto, Music

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Chevalier de Saint-George, French Revolution, Haydn, Paris Symphonies, Paul-Émile Borduas, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  Begonia, by Paul-Émile Borduas, 14 January 1924
 
Paul-Émile Borduas (November 1, 1905 – February 22, 1960)
Photo credit: National Gallery of Canada
 

Our mini-series on Joseph Bo(u)logne, Chevalier de Saint-George should by now be complete.

Joseph Bologne conducts the “Paris Symphonies”

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.

Next Post:  Paul-Émile Borduas (Refus Global)

The News

English
The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/
The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
The Montreal Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html
The National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html
Le Monde diplomatique: http://mondediplo.com/ EN
 
CBC News: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html
CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/
 
French
Le Monde: http://www.lemonde.fr/
Le Monde diplomatique: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/
Le Devoir: http://www.ledevoir.com/
La Presse: http://www.lapresse.ca/
 
German
Die Welt: http://www.welt.de/
 
© Micheline Walker
September 14, 2012
WordPress
 
composer: Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George 
Rondeau, Violin Concerto Op. 8 
 
45.408358 -71.934658

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Le Chevalier de Saint-George: the Black Mozart

14 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Mulatto, Music

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

French Revolution, Joseph, Joseph Haydn, Louis XVI of France, Marie-Antoinette, Mozart, Paris, Paris Symphonies, Saint-George, The Black Mozart

Satire of fencing duel between Monsieur de Saint-George et Mademoiselle la Chevalière d’Éon de Beaumont, Carlton House.  Engraved by Victor Marie Picot based on the original work of Charles Jean Robineau.

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 Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George: Violin Concerto in C major, Op. 5, Nº 1

Joseph Boulogne: Symphony in G major, Op.11, Nº 1

Related blogs:
Le Chevalier de Saint-George: Reviving a Legend, cont’d
Le Chevalier de Saint-George: Reviving a Legend
Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges & the News
Le Chevalier de Saint-George: the Black Mozart
“C’est mon ami,” composed by Marie-Antoinette (lyrics by Florian)
“Plaisir d’amour,” sung by Kathleen Battle (lyrics by Florian)
The News & the Music of Frederick the Great
The Duc de Joyeuse: Louis XIII as a Composer
Terminology, the Music of Louis XIII & the News (eras in the history of music) 
 
The Chevalier de Saint-George in a 1787 painting probably commissioned by the future George IV of the United Kingdom.
 
© Micheline Walker
September 14, 2012
WordPress
 
 
 
 
45.408358 -71.934658

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Le Chevalier de Saint-George: the Black Mozart

12 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Mulatto, Music

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

France, French Revolution, Guadeloupe, Joseph, Marie-Antoinette, Paris Symphonies, Saint-Domingue, Seven Years' War

La Gavotte

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George (1745–1799)
 

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.

The 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.

Related Blogs: 
“C’est mon ami,” composed by Marie-Antoinette (lyrics by Florian)
“Plaisir d’amour,” sung by Kathleen Battle (lyrics by Florian)
The News & the Music of Frederick the Great
The Duc de Joyeuse: Louis XIII as a Composer
Terminology, the Music of Louis XIII & the News (eras in the history of music)
 
© Micheline Walker
September 12, 2012
WordPress 
_________________________
[i] Many folk dances found their way into suites and variations, but some were also solo pieces.  For instance, although a polonaise may be found in a suite, Chopin used it as a solo piece. The same is true of his mazurkas, not to mention the gavotte and the folía, folies d’Espagne, found in Baroque music (1600–1760).  What seems particularly important here is the link between dance and music.     
 
[ii] In eighteenth-century France, an “amateur de musique” was a lover of music. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven were “amateurs de musique.”  French is changing. The word may now be used to differentiate professional musicians from musicians who are not professionals. 
 

45.408358 -71.934658

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Europa

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,507 other subscribers

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Epiphany 2023
  • Pavarotti sings Schubert’s « Ave Maria »
  • Yves Montand chante “À Bicyclette”
  • Almost ready
  • Bicycles for Migrant Farm Workers
  • Tout Molière.net : parti …
  • Remembering Belaud
  • Monet’s Magpie
  • To Lori Weber: Language Laws in Quebec, 2
  • To Lori Weber: Language Laws

Archives

Calendar

February 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728  
« Jan    

Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • WordPress.org

micheline.walker@videotron.ca

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker

Social

Social

  • View belaud44’s profile on Facebook
  • View Follow @mouchette_02’s profile on Twitter
  • View Micheline Walker’s profile on LinkedIn
  • View belaud44’s profile on YouTube
  • View Miicheline Walker’s profile on Google+
  • View michelinewalker’s profile on WordPress.org

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker
Follow Micheline's Blog on WordPress.com

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

  • Follow Following
    • Micheline's Blog
    • Join 2,475 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Micheline's Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: