My music group has become involved in a project about a forgotten composer named Joseph Bologne or Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745 – 1799). His mother was a slave on the island of Guadalupe in the West Indies. In 1753 his father, noticing that his son was a musical prodigy, took him to Paris. He was a composer, a violinist and a champion fencer. When Mozart was touring the world, he heard concertos by Saint-Georges in Paris.
I'm listening to a YouTube file that says Violin Concertos, one after the other. They're quite lively. This is in the style period generally called Rococo, transitioning to classical.
He was in Paris at the time of the French Revolution in 1789. Since he had acquired a title, he was probably lucky to get through it alive. He sided with Revolutionary France because of their stance on racial issues.
Some people don't want to get involved in politics. But how political is this really?
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