# Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges



## Morigan (Oct 16, 2006)

Ever heard of the "black Mozart"?

I remember watching a great Canadian documentary about him a few years back. I've recently downloaded his second Violin Concerto to remind me of what his music is like (I think he wrote over 15 v. concerti).

It's nothing spectacular, but it's nonetheless some very enjoyable classical-period music.

Do you know this composer? I'd like to learn more and possibly buy some recordings (They look sort of rare). Discuss.


----------



## Handel (Apr 18, 2007)

Morigan said:


> Ever heard of the "black Mozart"?
> 
> I remember watching a great Canadian documentary about him a few years back. I've recently downloaded his second Violin Concerto to remind me of what his music is like (I think he wrote over 15 v. concerti).
> 
> ...


Yeah, saw that documentary. Loved the music.

He was the son of a French landowner and a slave. Arrived in France in 1749, he learned fencing and became a great fencer. And a great violonist too. Was musically educated by Jean-Marie Leclair and François-Joseph Gossec.

His musical taste corresponded to the _style galant_

Two good recordings:

http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Joseph...4411113?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1177719738&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Chevalier-Sai...4411113?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1177719764&sr=1-1


----------



## MungoPark (Feb 15, 2007)

Yes, stylistically his violin concertos/concertantes sound very similar to those of Mozart. It's a shame that there aren't more recordings of his works out there. I mean why can't some label, instead of churning out the 200th recording of Beethoven's 9th, instead supply music fans with excellent and unduly neglected compositions from composers such as Saint-Georges?


----------



## Handel (Apr 18, 2007)

MungoPark said:


> very similar to those of Mozart


and most violin concerti of his time.


----------



## Morigan (Oct 16, 2006)

I agree. While the style is incredibly close to that of Mozart, you can still tell the melodies aren't "mozartian". It's funny eh.


----------



## joachim (Sep 2, 2017)

The Chevalier de Saint George is one of my "fetishes" composers, and I took his portrait as avatar 

There is a very complete biography on wikipedia, so I will not copy it here.

Around 2006, at the time of Mozart's 250th birthday, we spoke in France of this "Mozart Noir" although his destiny had nothing to do with Mozart. 
On this occasion, three books of biographies have been published, and many CDs have appeared. One finds integrals of his concertos for violin, his symphonies and concert symphonies, string quartets, sonatas ...
His only preserved opera, L'Amant Anonyme" was performed in Metz, and an opera-pastiche, Le Nègre des Lumières" (the Negro of the Enlightenment), was created on the music of Saint-George.

His style, which is far from being Mozart is quite in the standard of these French composers of the Enlightenment, those beloved of the French (Grétry, Gossec, Devienne for exemple). When I listen to a sonata or a concerto of Saint George, or a little ariette, I see myself in the salons of Louis XVI or Marie Antoinette, this period brutally destroyed by the Revolution which nevertheless represented France in the 18th.


----------

