Joseph Bologne, also known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, is perhaps the most famous musician and composer you've never heard of.
Bologne was born in 1745 on the French Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe, son of an enslaved Senegalese woman and a white plantation owner. Bologne's father was eager for him to acquire a good education and he was sent to France to be schooled in literature and fencing (击剑). As well as showing great skill in sport, Bologne was intelligent and appealing.
As if being handsome, clever and a champi on athlete wasn't enough, Bologne was also a seriously skilled musician and composer. His main instrument was the violin, and in 1761, he was made a member of the Royal Guards as a soldier and musician. It was around this time that he became known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges in recognition of his skill as a fencer and horseman. He was invited to join the incredibly distinguished Concert des Amateurs as the first violinist and became its leader in 1773.
Although things were going very well for Bologne, he still experienced apparent racism. Some of the opera's leading women campaigned against having what they called "a mixed-race person in charge of the opera. Despite this attempt to undermine his career, he fell into favour with the influential playwright Madame de Montesson, who put him in charge of her private theatre and introduced him to her husband, the Duke of Orleans. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, Bologne sided with the revolutionaries. However, he was later imprisoned for 18 months and ultimately died in 1799 due to a severe leg injury.
Shortly after Bologne's death, Napoleon restored slavery in the French colonies and also banned Bologne's music in an attempt to erase him from French history. However, Afro-Caribbean communities in France, and on Guadeloupe and Martinique have been working tirelessly to keep his legacy alive and Joseph Bologne is now enjoying a long overdue and richly deserved revival.
