![]() Mozart travelled to Paris in 1778 and, once there, he associated with the extended networks of a very powerful man, the Duke of Orleans, who was also the patron of Bologne. But the duelling violins portrayed in the movie Chevalier are likely to be some artistic licence on the part of Hollywood.ĭoe says: “A general relationship between these two very precocious musicians is certainly plausible. It may have influenced other composers including his contemporary Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Then within just a few years he was quite firmly established on the Parisian musical scene.”īologne’s artistic accomplishments fell into four main areas: he worked in high-profile positions as an orchestral player, soloist and ensemble director he was commissioned to write operas for Parisian theatres he appeared at musical salons of the noble and wealthy he published works for the flourishing French print market.ĭoe adds: “His wide output for those venues included all of the most fashionable genres of this day: violin concertos, operas, songs and chamber music, among other works. As a composer, Bologne wrote pioneering string quartets and helped establish the symmetry and melody of the classical era.ĭoe continues: “By the mid-1760s, his name starts to appear as a dedicatee of violin pieces published by other virtuosos in Paris, indicating that his talents were beginning to be recognised. People flocked to his violin concerts as he pushed the instrument to its limits. John Adams, the second US president, declared him “the most accomplished man in Europe in riding, shooting, fencing, dancing and music”. It’s truly extraordinary.”īologne gained renown as an undefeated fencer and lauded as a dancer, equestrian and fashion trendsetter. ![]() His friend praises his upstanding character and his accomplishments as a swordsman, a dancer, a swimmer, an ice skater, and so on. ![]() ![]() One of his close friends wrote a biographical notice a few decades after his death and, unlike other more famous composers of this period, it’s very clear that music was just one facet of Bologne’s personal and professional identity. “Once he arrives in Paris, he becomes this truly remarkable figure. Doe continues: “In his early teenage years Bologne enrolled at this prestigious fencing academy of a Parisian master at arms and, because fencing was a physical art associated with the historical French nobility, the skills and connections that he developed at this academy would pave his entry into the highest circles of courts and capital. More generally, it was not uncommon for members of the French colonial elite to send their children, including mixed race children, to be educated in the metropole.”īologne studied music, mathematics, literature and fencing at La Boëssière Academy. Julia Doe, assistant professor of music at Columbia University in New York, explains: “Pragmatically speaking, his father had to flee Guadeloupe to escape murder charges. His parents were Georges de Bologne Saint-Georges, a wealthy French plantation owner, and an enslaved 16-year-old from Senegal, known as Nanon, who would eventually live in France as a free woman.īologne moved to France as a child. ![]() The movie, directed by Stephen Williams (Watchmen) and written by Stefani Robinson (Atlanta), traces Bologne from his origins on a slave plantation to his acquaintance with Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before the revolution.īologne – played by Kelvin Harrison Jr, who studied violin seven hours a day – was born in 1745 on the island of Guadeloupe. ![]()
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