|
REPLY TO THREAD
|
|
Subject
|
Chevalier de Saint-George, the "Black Mozart". Amazing classical music composer from the 18th century.
|
|
User Name
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Font color:
Font:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Original Message
|
WARNING: rednecks who don't like classical music, please stay away from this thread.
Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George (December 25, 1745 – June 10, 1799) was an important figure in the Paris musical scene in the second half of the 18th century as composer, conductor, and violinist. Prior to the revolution in France, he was also famous as a swordsman and equestrian. Known as the "black Mozart"[1] he was one of the earliest musicians of the European classical type known to have African ancestry.
Joseph Bologne was born in Guadeloupe to Nanon, a Wolof former slave, and a white French plantation owner, Georges Bologne de Saint-George.
He studied music in Saint-Domingue with the black violinist Joseph Platon before emigrating to Paris in 1752. Platon would later play an unspecified Saint-George violin concerto at Port-au-Prince (Haiti) on April 25, 1780.
After 1764, works dedicated to him by Lolli and Gossec suggest that Gossec was his composition teacher and that Lolli taught him violin. Saint-George’s technical approach was similar to that of Gaviniés, who may also have taught him. In 1769 he became a member of Gossec’s new orchestra, the Concert des Amateurs, at the Hôtel de Soubise, and was soon named its leader.
While still a young man, he acquired multiple reputations; as the best swordsman in France, as a violin virtuoso, and as a composer in the classical tradition. He composed and conducted for the private orchestra and theatre of the Marquise de Montesson, morganatic wife of the King's cousin, Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans. In 1771, he was appointed maestro of the Concert des Amateurs, and later director of the Concert de la Loge Olympique, the biggest orchestra of his time (65-70 musicians). This orchestra commissioned Joseph Haydn to compose six symphonies (the "Paris Symphonies" Nr. 82-87), which Saint-George conducted for their world premiere. In respect of his skill as both a composer and musician, he was selected for appointment as the director of the Royal Opera of Louis XVI.
source: [link to en.wikipedia.org]
Now, let's see some of his concertos:
|
|
Pictures (click to insert)
|
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | | | Next Page >> |
|
