The Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Virtuosa of the Sword and the Bow, 1787
D’après Mather Brown (1761–1831) & William Ward (1766–1826)

Joseph Bologne (1745-1799) excelled as a swordsman, composer, and virtuosic violinist during the French Revolutionary period. Regarded as one of the most important Parisian men of his time, he accumulated numerous accolades from fencing demonstrations and musical performances, founded and directed prestigious ensembles, and was a colonel.

Bologne was the son of an enslaved African (Nanon) and her Guadeloupean master (George Bologne). George relocated the family to France in 1759, where Joseph became a skilled fencer and was made a Gendarme de la Garde du Roi at age nineteen. Bologne’s domestic situation was quite unconventional, as it was rare for an illegitimate child and his enslaved mother to be moved across the world, educated, and financially supported. Revered for his prodigious skills, Joseph Bologne was dubbed chevalier and rapidly ascended through the ranks of fashionable Parisian society. He was so respected in the art and science of arms that he was admitted as a professor at the Royal Academy.

While much is known about his swordsmanship training, little is known about Bologne’s musical education, although he may have studied composition with François Gossec and violin with Antonio Lolli. Bologne joined Gossec’s orchestra the Concert des Amateurs as a violinist in 1769 and made his solo début with them in 1772, performing his virtuosic Op. 2 violin concerti. The performance was well-received, and Bologne was named director of The Amateurs in 1773. Under his direction, the ensemble quickly garnered a reputation of being one of the finest Western European orchestras. Most of Bologne’s instrumental works were composed during the 1770s, including string quartets, violin concerti, and symphonies concertantes.

Despite his prolific success as a composer and performer, Bologne also experienced significant racial discrimination. A group of leading ladies of the Paris Opéra petitioned Queen Marie Antoinette to block Bologne’s appointment as music director in 1776, refusing to submit to the musical direction and orders of a “mulatto.” However personally devastating this setback must have been, Bologne’s opera career was not hindered. The next year he presented his first opera, Ernestine, at the Comédie-Italienne. Shortly after, he was engaged as the music director of the private theater of Mme de Montesson and was appointed Lieutenante de chasse of the Duke of Orlean’s hunting estate, where he continued to produce stage works.

Around 1781, Bologne founded the Concert de La Loge Olympique, which was part of the exclusive freemason club La Loge Olympique. At the request of the Loge’s grand-master, Bologne commissioned Haydn’s Paris symphonies. In the ensuing years, Bologne traveled throughout Western Europe as a musician and fencing demonstrator extraordinaire. He was renowned in both capacities everywhere that he went.

Much of the last decade of Bologne’s life was dedicated to the French Revolution, with the hope of equality for all compelling him to join the cause. Although he had been afforded extraordinary privilege in name, rank, and social station from his father, Bologne’s status as a mixed-race man prevented him from being a full member of society. Bologne joined the National Guard and was made a colonel of the Légion des Américains et du Midi in 1792. After being a victim of the Reign of Terror, he spent eighteen months in military prison.

Bologne was still conducting orchestras as late as 1797, when he was favorably reviewed for a performance with the masonic Cercle de l’Harmonie. He died in 1799 of an ulcerated bladder.

Works:

1773 6 String Quartets, Op. 1

1773 2 Violin Concerti, Op. 2

1774 2 Violin Concerti, Op. 3

1774 Violin Concerto, Op. 4

1775 2 Violin Concerti, Op. 5

1775 2 Symphonies Concertantes, Op. 6

1776 Violin Concerti, Op. 8

1777 2 Symphonies Concertaintes, Op. 9

1777 Violin Concerto, Op. 11

1777 2 Symphonies Concertantes, Op. 12

1777 6 Quartetto Concertans

1777 Ernestine (opera)

1778 La partie de la chasse (opera, lost)

1779 2 Symphonies Concertantes, Op. 10

1780 L’amant anonyme (opera)

1781 3 Sonatas (violin, keyboard)

1782 2 Violin Concerti, Op. 7

1785 6 String Quartets, Op. 14 (lost)

1787 La fille-garçon (opera, lost)

1788 Aline et Dupré, ou La marchande de marrons (opera)

1790 Guillaume tout coeur (opera, lost)

Resources:

Sources:

Banat, Gabriel. “Saint-Georges [Saint-George], Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de.” Grove Music Online. 2001.

“Saint-Georges, Joseph Bologne de.” Arteria Editions.

Works Featured on Expanding the Music Theory Canon

Allegro from Sonata I in B-flat Major, Op. 1a
Excerpt
Pages: Scales, Incomplete Neighbor, Predominant

“Aria con Variatione” from Sonata II
Excerpt
Pages: Intervals, Simple Meters

Presto from Ouverture to L’Amant Anonyme
Excerpt
Pages: Triads, Compound Meters, V, V7 Inversions

“Movement 1” from Sonata III
Excerpt
Pages: Triads, Passing Tone, 6/4 Chords

Allegro Moderato from String Quartet 4 in C Minor, Op. 1
Excerpt
Pages: Seventh Chords, V, V7+ Inversions, 6/4 Chords, Secondary Function

Allegro Assai from Symphony in G Major, Op. 11, No. 1
Excerpt
Pages: Seventh Chords, V, V7+ Inversions, 6/4 Chords,

Allegro from Sonata 3 in G Minor, Op. 1a
Excerpt
Pages: Seventh Chords, vii°6, vii°7+Inversions,

Andante from Sonate pour la Harpe avec Accompagnement de Flûte
Excerpt
Pages: Passing Tone, V, V7+ Inversions

“Aria con Variatione” from Sonata II
Excerpt
Pages: Passing Tone, Neighbor Tone

“Allegro” from Quartet 5 in G Minor, Op. 1
Excerpt
Pages: Incomplete Neighbor, Suspensions

“Tempo di Minuetto” from Sonata 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 1a
Excerpt
Page: Suspensions

“Allegro” from Symphony in G Major, Op. 11, No. 1
Excerpt
Pages: Pedal, Sequences, Submediant

Andante from Ouverture to L’Amant Anonyme
Excerpt
Pages: Cadences, Predominant

“Andante” from Symphony in G Major, Op. 11, No. 1
Excerpt
Pages: Predominant, Sequences, Modulation,

“Allegro Assai” from String Quartet 1 in C Major, Op. 1
Excerpt
Pages: Predominant, 6/4 Chords

“Rondeau” from String Quartet 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 1
Excerpt
Pages: 6/4 Chords, Period

“Allegro” from Quartet 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 1
Excerpt
Page: Submediant

Allegro Presto from Ouverture to L’Amant anonyme
Excerpt
Page: Submediant

Rondeau from String Quartet 5 in G Minor, Op. 1
Excerpt
Pages: Secondary Function, Sentence

“Rondeau” from Quartet 1 in C Major, Op. 1
Excerpt
Pages: Modulation, Period, Sentence

“Rondeau” from String Quartet 4 in C Minor, Op. 1
Excerpt
Pages: Period, Rondo

“Aria con Variatione” from Sonata 1
Excerpt
Pages: Binary, Theme and Variations