The true story of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a prominent mixed-race composer, musician, and soldier comes to life on the big screen in the new film Chevalier from Searchlight Pictures.
The movie opens with Bologne challenging none other than Mozart to a violin duel on stage, leading to his nickname “The Black Mozart.” Though mystery surrounds his life, Bologne was born the son of a Senegalese slave and a wealthy French planter and was already a virtuoso violinist by the age of 19.
But despite rising to helm the Les Concerts des Amateurs in Paris in 1773 (which led to U.S.
President John Adams calling him “the most accomplished man in Europe”), Bologne’s career was thwarted by constant racism.
Eventually, after the French Revolution and Napoleon’s reinstatement of slavery, Bologne’s work was largely forgotten.
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