Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges

A swordsman whose fencing skills were without equal, a crack shot, and able to swim the river Seine with one hand tied behind his back, Joseph Bologne appeared quite the dashing hero in 18th-century Paris. Born in Guadeloupe to mixed-race parents in 1745, he was schooled in the French capital where his exceptional musical accomplishments were recognized. As a virtuoso violinist, Bologne composed around a dozen violin concertos that outshone Mozart’s for dazzling showmanship, displaying brilliant technique and an easy rapport with the instrument. He also composed several symphonies concertantes, a genre then fashionable in Paris in which multiple soloists perform the musical equivalent of cut-and-thrust, or sometimes amorous duetting. In 1777, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges (to use Bologne’s formal title) wrote his first opera, Ernestine, soon followed by the comedy La partie de chasse (The Hunting Party) and L’amant anonyme (The Anonymous Lover). He was still writing operas as revolution engulfed Paris. Having been a leading light in the French anti-slavery movement, Bologne was active fighting the revolutionary corner, returning to France in 1790 to head a militia of some 1,000 men of color. The final years leading up to his death in 1799 included imprisonment and a near brush with the guillotine. The optimism and irrepressible joie de vivre of his music is the perfect soundtrack to this most swashbuckling of composer backstories.