Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges was born Christmas Day 1745 in the French island of Guadeloupe. Bologne was the mixed-race son of a Senagalese slave and a French plantation owner.
His father, unjustly accused of murder in 1747, fled to France bringing Joseph and his mother along so that they could not be sold. Granted a royal pardon, Joseph's father returned with the family to Guadeloupe when Joseph was eight.
As a young man, he earned a reputation as a great sworsdman (was a an elite musketeer of the King’s Horse Guard), a violin virtuoso, and talented composer.
Joseph wrote dozens of concertos, songs and sonatas in the style of Mozart and Haydn. In 1775, he was considered for the job of artistic director of the Royal Academy of Music. His consideration for the post faced strong opposition. In a letter to the Queen who oversaw the appointment, an opponent wrote begging: "that their honor and the delicacy of their conscience made it impossible for them to be subjected to the orders of a mulatto".
Joseph served in the Army during the French revolution and was appointed the first black colonel in the French army commanding a regiment of free colored soldiers. Though hailed as a hero for his brave service, Joseph was expelled from the army when he was denounced by one of his deputies (writer Alexandre Dumas' father). He spent a year imprisoned due to the accusations.
Joseph continued to work as a composer in the 1790s.
He died in June 1799 of a bladder infection with no known heirs.
Thank you to blog reader Anne-Suzie for letting me know about this fascinating man!
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