The Chevalier: a Black musical maestro forgotten by time

Champion fencer, classical composer, a contemporary of Mozart, beloved by Marie Antoinette. And a Black man.

On April 21, Indian theatres will see the striking tale of Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges come to life on the silver screen. Chevalier, directed by Stephen Williams and written by Stefani Robinson, sees Kelvin Harrison Jr take on the role of the titular musical maestro. Samara Weaving co-stars as his lady love, along with Lucy Boynton as Queen Marie Antoinette.

It is intriguing that this is the first time Joseph Bologne’s story is being told, since it has all the hallmarks of a fascinating narrative. Bologne was born on a plantation on the island of Basse-Terre in Guadeloupe, the illegitimate son of rich French plantation owner Georges de Bologne Saint-Georges and an enslaved Senegalese teenager, known as Nanon. Sources note that he was born between 1739 and 49, possibly in 1745.

Early days

At around age 10, Joseph moved to France, following his father, who was allegedly fleeing murder charges in Guadeloupe. French colonial elite would often send their children, including mixed race children, to elite French schools. Joseph studied music, mathematics, literature and fencing at La Boëssière Academy.

It was fencing, a sport often associated with French nobility, that brought young Joseph his first plaudits. He was a champion fencer and reputed disciple of his academy. In fact, a painting that depicts a match between him and the Chevalier d’Éon was on display at Buckingham Palace, according to accounts.

His fencing mastery even earned him recognition from King Louis XV, who named him Chevalier de Saint-Georges after his father’s noble title. At the time, France’s Code Noir prohibited him from officially inheriting the title because of his mixed-race ancestry.

Joseph Bologne, by all accounts, was a multi-faceted man and a polymath; music was just one of his facets. Besides fencing and music, he gained fame for his talents as a dancer and an equestrian. His reputation even preceded him across the Atlantic, with the second American President John Adams describing him as “the most accomplished man in Europe in riding, shooting, fencing, dancing and music.”

Musical journey

Of course, Joseph Bologne was a musician as well; a composer, conductor and violinist par excellence.

His name first made its appearance in the mid-1760s on the Parisian musical scene. Later, in 1769, noted conductor and musician François-Joseph Gossec founded the Concert des Amateurs series and invited Jospeh to join its orchestra as a violinist.

As a composer, Joseph Bologne penned a range of muscial work, ranging from operas to violin concertos and chamber music. The first of his documented compositions are from 1770 and 1771. These included six strong quartets- among the first ever string quartets written in France. According to sources, it was two violin concertos (Op. 2), which brought him success. The concertos premiered in 1772 at the Concert des Amateurs series, played by Bologne himself.

Gossec was invited to direct the Concert Spirituel series in 1773, and Bologne succeeded him as director of the Concert des Amateurs, which soon gained widespread acclaim as the best in France, if not Europe.

In 1775, he was invited to apply for the position of the director of the Royal Academy of Music (Académie Royal de Musique), France’s top musical position. He, however, was not appointed to the post, reportedly after a group of performers objected to “accepting orders from a mulatto” , petitioning Queen Marie Antoinette to that effect.

Notably, Marie Antoinette reportedly attended performances by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges and appreciated his work.

In 1778, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart made a visit to Paris and even stayed under the same roof as Bologne briefly. Mozart also wrote music for various Paris concert series with which Bologne was associated. Researchers say it was highly likely that Mozart knew of and even heard Bologne’s music.

In 1781, the Concert des Amateurs shut down due to a lack of funding. Bologne and his musicians joined the Concert de la Loge Olympique. It was during this time that Bologne commissioned and conducted the premiere of Haydn’s six Paris symphonies.

The Chevalier de Saint-Georges had yet another dimension: he was an abolitionist and an enlisted soldier of the French Revolution, leading France’s first all-Black regiment. In later years, the Chevalier’s musical output lessened as his activities as a soldier increased, also supplemented by limited operatic success and reduced patronage.  

If his musical history is obscured, even less is known about his personal life. He was rumoured to be close with Marie-Josephine de Comarieu, wife of the Marquise de Montalembert, and by some accounts, was popular among the ladies of the French nobility. However, he remained unmarried and had no known children. Bologne died in 1799.

Legacy

As a Black man, Bologne was not exempt from the racialised challenges of his times. Even at the height of his fame, he was blocked from appointment as Director of the Royal Academy of Music at the Paris Opera, reportedly due to his mixed-race heritage. Indeed, at this time, the monarchy still supported slavery. Napolean Bonaparte reinstated the institution of slavery in 1799, a mere three years after the Chevalier’s death.

Much of his music was lost after this time. And today, even though he was musician of great influence and repute during his time, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges finds only brief mention in history or music-history books. Music composer and researcher Marcos Balter highlighted in an editorial for the New York Times that the of the two music-history textbooks used in America, he is entirely absent from one.

Interest in the man and his music is slowly growing, as witnessed by this first cinematic recounting of his tale. In recent years, his work has also been performed by orchestras and opera houses; the LA Opera performed a staging of The Anonymous Lover in 2020, noting that it was “an unjustly neglected 1780 chamber opera.”

Although Joseph Bologne has often been called Black Mozart, some, including Mr. Balter, object to this moniker arguing that it “diminishes his truly unique place in Western classical music history.”

Indeed, cutting into the largely white Eurocentric perspective about western classical music, Joseph Bologne’s narrative offers new dimensions to explore about the often-forgotten contributions of Black musicians.