Educational Media Reviews Online

This biography of French violinist, composer, and conductor Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, born in Guadeloupe in 1745 of a French father and African slave mother, contains a satisfying mixture of talking heads, still photos of engravings and paintings of the period, narrative description accompanied by pantomimed action, and fine performances of very good music.

Brought to France along with his mother when he was 11, Saint-Georges enrolled in fencing training at 13, excelling so that by the time he was 21, he was known as Europe’s greatest fencer, as well as one of the favorite paramours of aristocratic Parisian ladies, having been dubbed a Chevalier at 19. He must have started music lessons as a teenager in both violin and composition, for he joined an orchestra in 1769 and premiered his own first two violin concertos in 1772, pieces that reveal his virtuosic performance ability. His ‘mulatto’ status barred him from marrying and prevented his becoming head of the Paris Opera in 1776 when divas there protested that their ‘honor and delicate conscience’ would be ‘degraded’ if they had to take orders from such a one, but he otherwise thrived in the worlds of both music and fencing. He wrote many two-movement symphonies concertantes, more violin concertos, chamber music (including string quartets), and several operas. His music was critically well received and musicians in the film, including Ashley Horne, a violinist with the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble, Jeanne Lamon, Director of the Tafelmusik Orchestra, which plays the Saint-Georges music heard on this video, and solo violinist Linda Melsted enthusiastically comment on its worthiness (and challenges).

Gabriel Banat, a biographer of Saint-Georges, points out that after a visit to Paris, Mozart used an exact passage from a Saint-George work (transposed half a step up) in his E-flat Symphonie Concertante. Only about a third of Saint-Georges’ compositions survive. The Chevalier became a conductor with a fine reputation and one of his ensembles commissioned Haydn’s Paris symphonies, with Saint-Georges conducting their premieres. He was invited to give exhibition fencing matches in London in 1787, where the Prince of Wales commissioned his portrait to be painted by American artist Mather Brown. During the French Revolution he turned to politics, specifically anti-slavery efforts. He led a black French regiment, spent 18 months in prison during the Reign of Terror, and found that slavery had been abolished in France while he was in jail. He resumed his conducing career to great acclaim and died in 1799.

The video covers all this, with excellent research credentials and a generous amount of Saint-Georges’ music. The pantomimes of the narrative become melodramatic at times. Actors impersonating musicians are seldom convincing and though the fencing moves shown are probably accurate, they certainly do not communicate ‘world-class graceful athlete.’

Technical quality is excellent, with good up-close shots of the orchestra and soloists, fine sound quality for the music, and a pleasant variety of things to look at while listening.

Because some guillotine scenes could frighten younger viewers, this program is recommended for senior high school age and up. It is a well-balanced introduction to an unusual and overlooked composer of the classical period in European art music and high schools concentrating on music or in need of more African-heritage biographies could make good use of it.