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Joyeux anniversaire Joseph Bologne de Saint-George! 🎻📯 Composer: Joseph Bologne de Saint-George (1744-1799) Work: Sinfonia (en ré majeur) à plusieurs instruments ... oeuvre XI (1779) Performers: Orchestre de Chambre de Versailles; Bernard Wahl (1922-1994, conductor) Drawing: Jean-Baptiste Lesueur (1749-1826) - Délégation d'aspirants armuriers de divers départements, se rendant à la Convention à l'occasion de la fête du Salpêtre, Paris, le 20 mars 1794 HD image: Drawing: Mather Brown (1761-1831) - Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges HD image: Further info: Listen free: --- Joseph Bologne [Boulogne] 'Chevalier de Saint-Georges' (Baillif, 25 December 1745 - Paris, 9 June 1799) Caribbean composer, violinist, swordsman, equestrian and military commander. Son of a manumitted African mother and French plantation owner (his last name was apparently taken from one of the plantations his father owned), he grew up in the vicinity of Basse-Terre. His family went to France in 1747 to escape difficulties with the law but returned to Guadeloupe a few years later. In 1753 they moved permanently, first to Bordeaux then to Paris, where he underwent his earliest musical education, probably under Antonio Lolli and a few years later François-Joseph Gossec. In 1769 he became a violinist in the Concerts des amateurs, later becoming its director. During this time, beginning with his debut as a soloist in 1772, he became famous for his technical proficiency on his instruments, earning the epithet as the finest violinist of the age. A proposal to make him musical director of the Opéra in 1776 was blocked by four singers who refused to work with a “mulatto.” In 1781 he founded the Loge Olympique orchestra sponsored by one of Paris’s largest masonic lodges; he conducted the premieres of Haydn’s so-called Paris symphonies, which he had helped commission. In 1787 he traveled to London, where his prowess as a violinist and swordsman were thought legendary. A supporter of the Revolution, he was given command of troops from France’s colonial domains in 1792, but a year later he was denounced and spent 18 months in prison. Disillusioned, he sailed to Hispanola to participate in the newly independent Haiti of Toussant l’Ouverture. There the corruption and poor living standards further eroded his health and state of mind. He returned to Paris to conduct the Cercle d’harmonie orchestra, but was unable to escape poverty. During his lifetime, Saint-Georges was a remarkable bon vivant who freely interacted in the upper circles of Parisian society. His music was known for its tunefulness and technical brilliance, using devices such as bariolage that were extremely uncommon. His 1778 opera 'Le partie du chasse' was well received. In all he wrote six operas, 13 violin concertos, 10 sinfonia concertantes, a bassoon concerto, two symphonies, nine violin sonatas, 18 string quartets, and several other smaller pieces. His multifaceted personality has been the subject of both literature (six novels) and a motion picture. He is reckoned as one of the greatest Afro-Caribbean musicians of the period.
