The Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Virtuoso of the Sword and the BowPendragon Press, 2006 - 566 pages The Chevalier de Saint-Georges, born Joseph Bologne, was the son of an African slave and a French plantation owner on the island of Guadeloupe. The story of his improbable rise in French society, his life as a famous fencer, celebrated violinist-composer and conductor, and later commander of a colored regiment in the French Revolution, should, on the facts alone, gladden the heart of the most passionate romance novelist. Yet, the information disseminated about this illustre inconnu is found in an extravagant nineteenth-century novel, which contains more fiction than fact. Unfortunately, many of the author's flights of fancy have found their way into serious works about Saint-Georges. Gabriel Banat has set about systematically dispelling the confusion, for the real story is easily as fascinating as any flight of fancy. Gabriel Banat has been a professional violinist all his life; recitalist and member of the New York Philharmonic, he has systematically scoured the violin repertory for interesting and even unknown music. He came across the works of St. Georges and was fascinated by the freshness and charm of these 18th-century compositions. Eventually, he edited a critical edition of all the violin music and, inevitably, began a systematic investigation into the life of this intriguing and multifaceted individual, utilizing archives of the French Land Army, official clippings and untapped personal diaries of St. Georges contemporaries. Banat is the author of an authoritative monograph on St. Georges in the Black Music Research Journal. |
Table des matières
The Island | 1 |
Joseph | 5 |
The Trial | 12 |
A Fugitive Family | 22 |
The Bologne Plantation | 27 |
People of Color | 37 |
Return to France | 40 |
Paris | 46 |
Le PalaisRoyal | 273 |
London | 282 |
The Gathering Storm | 299 |
The Bastille | 312 |
Revolution | 326 |
An Orléans Conspiracy? | 332 |
Return to London | 341 |
Lille | 355 |
The Prodigy | 54 |
Too Many Blacks | 67 |
The Chevalier de SaintGeorges | 76 |
A Young Man about Town | 90 |
Virtuoso | 97 |
Gossec | 113 |
The New Bow | 119 |
Quartets and Concertos | 125 |
Gluck and Marie Antoinette | 140 |
Concertos and Symphonies Concertantes | 159 |
The Opéra Affair | 177 |
Ernestine | 193 |
Madame de Montesson | 202 |
Madame de Montalembert | 220 |
LAmant Anonyme | 232 |
Le Concert des Amateurs | 243 |
The Grand Orient of France | 252 |
Le Concert Olympique | 259 |
The National Guard | 364 |
La Légion SaintGeorges | 371 |
Regicide | 386 |
The Great Terror | 400 |
Too Many Colonels | 414 |
Paris 1795 | 427 |
SaintDomingue | 437 |
CodaFinale | 449 |
Epilogue | 455 |
Postlude | 460 |
Appendices | 467 |
Works List | 469 |
Discography | 479 |
Documents | 484 |
Bibliography | 521 |
544 | |
Expressions et termes fréquents
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