The Disappearance of the “Black Mozart” or the Story of the Knight of Saint-Georges by Avital Inbar

If he had been a white man, perhaps today the knight Joseph de Saint-Georges would be as famous and revered as his contemporary Mozart. He was the most gifted violinist of his time, a prolific and successful composer, the most prominent orchestra conductor in Europe, but also the best swordsman of his generation, the star of the soirees, the beloved of upper-class women.

“The Negro of the Enlightenment,” he was affectionately called. But Saint-Georges was a dark-skinned mixed-race man, and as usual, racism prevailed over talent and fame, and even his memory was swallowed up in the abyss of oblivion. The Negro did his thing – and disappeared.

The story of the man who was nicknamed “the Black Mozart” is a fascinating and unknown example of an important aspect of the French’s relations with others, their attitude towards blacks. It also teaches us about the double standards of French Revolution Hatred demanded, but did not live up to, regarding the status of blacks and mixed-race people and the abominable slavery, which it chose not to abolish but, on the contrary, to perpetuate!

A book published in 1999 by journalist Alain Guédé, who writes for the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchant, reveals an impressive and dominant figure in 18th-century Paris. The book is a novel of Saint-Georges' life, woven into the annals of a fascinating period – the decline of absolute monarchy against a backdrop of Paris The debauchery and increasing poverty of the people, the revolution and the revolutionary rampage that brought about Napoleon.

He places a flesh-and-blood hero in the political, economic, social, and artistic contexts of the period, and introduces the reader to most of the prominent figures of those days, in whose circle Joseph gathered.

Joseph was born on Christmas Day 1739 in the colony of Guadeloupe, an island in Central America. When he came out of his mother's womb, the midwife prophesied: "One day, this child will see the King of France". His father, Tavernier de Boulogne, was a vagrant nobleman from northern France who had moved to the distant island to escape his creditors, and thanks to slavery he had quickly become rich from the sugar plantations. His mother, Nanon, was a beautiful slave of Senegalese origin, with whom Boulogne fell in love.

This was the terrible period of the slave trade – the “selection” in Africa and in the markets of America, the sea voyage in inhumane conditions, the horrific exploitation in the colonies. This was also the period of the flowering of the ideas of progress and freedom, which were the essence of the revolution – but slavery did not bother the “philosophers of the Enlightenment.”

Love in black and white

Many were half-breeds born from the sexual exploitation of young slaves by white masters. But Tavernier was an exception – a pleasant and unassuming man who won the heart of the beautiful 18-year-old slave girl who had been kidnapped as a child by slave traders and brought to Guadeloupe.

He purchased her for 2,000 livres, and brought her into his home, to manage and raise their son. She was so beautiful that years later it was written that she was “the most beautiful gift Africa gave to France.”

Joseph received a perfect education that included music, fencing, riding, archery, dancing and theoretical studies. The boy absorbed the rhythms of the slave songs, which accompanied their work with singing. From childhood, he stood out for his physical strength and agility, which later impressed the ladies of the Paris. Dressed as a nobleman, but in the eyes of the whites he remained “the son of a negro,” and was treated accordingly. He soon became aware that the beautiful island could be heaven for some and hell for others, all because of the color of his skin, and he listened to the stories of the atrocities committed against slaves.

Since, by law, Tavernier was unable to adopt his son, redeem him from slavery (many half-breeds worked on the plantations as slaves) and give him his name, much less the title of nobility that he would have deserved if he had been recognized as his son – his father, as in the Middle Ages, appointed him to the rank of knight, Chevalier, and gave him the name of the estate adjacent to his own – Saint-Georges.

Not far from their home lived a nobleman named Davy de la Paiterie, who fathered four children by the beautiful slave girl Szet Dumas. He sold the mother and three of their children into slavery, and kept the fourth, Thomas Retour Dumas. He redeemed himself, rose to the rank of general in the French army, redeemed his family, and later fathered a son, Alexandre Dumas.

Later, the renowned author made sure to distort history in order to glorify the name of his father, who was “in competition” with Saint-Georges in late 18th-century Paris, and to downplay the importance of the knight.

Le Pen didn't invent anything.

Tavernier had done well, and the time had come to return to France and use his wealth to acquire honor and prestige. In mid-18th-century France, ignorance was deep, and racism flourished even among the “progressives.” Diderot, in the Encyclopedia, saw blacks as inferior people, almost animals.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was not one of their followers, and one of his patrons did not hesitate to name his slave ship after Rousseau's important work, The Social Contract... Voltaire and Montesquieu were said to have made money from the slave trade. Among the women of the nobility, especially under the influence of Madame de Pompadour, there was a fashion for keeping black children as ornaments, as pets, and there was even a trade in black children for the sake of the hobby.

Plantation owners on the Central American islands used to spend a few years in France with their slaves, and in Provence at that time they were already worried about the “invasion of blacks” – Le Pen wasn’t making anything up – even though their number in the entire region did not exceed seventy! The fantasies about their abundant sexuality aroused fears.

Then a system of royal oppression came into play. Until 1738, every black person was considered free from slavery the moment he set foot on French soil. The law was repealed. In 1763, Louis XV completely banned blacks from entering France. Owners of professions such as carters and servants, who feared competition, saw to it that blacks were banned from these professions.

Joseph was nine years old when he arrived in Paris. With the help of wealthy relatives, who worked as tax collectors in the king's service and enriched themselves at the expense of the people, his father began to climb from one lucrative position to another in the tax collection industry. At each stage of his ascent up the ladder of honor and wealth, they moved to a more luxurious house.

He wanted to marry Nanon, whom he loved, but his relatives pressured him to marry a white noblewoman of his own rank and to keep his son's mother as a mistress - for that they were even prepared to sacrifice. He hesitated, but Nanon understood that she was a slave and gave in. Tavernier de Boulogne married, and Georges' mother, the former slave, received an apartment and a handsome living allowance from him.

Education for Excellence

The father nurtured his son's education. He wanted him to be the best in all the skills important to a young nobleman: swimming, riding, fencing, dancing. He insisted that he adopt all the manners of an aristocrat so that he would be accepted, despite his dark skin and frizzy hair, in high society circles.

The father had the will and the means, the boy was highly talented – and the teachers were excellent. The brilliant violinist of the kingdom, Leclerc, was hired as a teacher of music. He was taught composition by one of the greatest musicians of his time, Gossack. His father also bought him a violin by Amati, the teacher of Stradivarius. And so began the wonderful career of one who is considered one of the greatest violinists of the 18th century.

At the same time, he was accepted on boarding terms into the best fencing school in Paris, that of Le Bessier, the inventor of the fencing mask. The best fencers in the kingdom heard of the sturdy and tall “American” and came to compete with him. The perfect athlete emerged as the best fencer in Paris, and also an unrivaled dancer, horseman, sprinter, and ice skater. His easygoing nature was also praised, but woe to those who mocked him for his skin tone, lips, or snub nose: he would charge forward and surprise him with his blows.

For young Joseph, it was most important to be accepted into high society. His father allocated him a huge annual allowance, which spared him the ignoble need to work. He took care to turn every enemy into a friend, and to prevent hatreds that easily took on a racial tinge. To no avail.

Because of his qualities as a warrior, he was accepted into the Musketeers, the King's Guard. But the soldiers, members of the most important noble families in the kingdom, ostracized him, humiliated him, and forced him to retire – at the same time that the noblewomen devoted themselves to the elegantly dressed "Black Don Juan."

However, when he asked for the hand of one of them, he was rejected by her father. The bitter lesson of refusing to be accepted as a black man in the family FrenchWe learn: he never sought to marry another woman, and his entire life was a series of adventures with noblewomen, both married and unmarried.

In 1769, with the establishment of the first orchestra not affiliated with a noble house, Gossack invited Joseph to serve as first violinist and rhythmist. Despite envy and ridicule for the layer of powder that covered his face, he quickly became at ease with the lively spirit of the orchestra and began to compose.

But it was not until 1773 that he submitted for printing the compositions of his first works, six quartets. The salons of aristocratic houses competed for his presence and his playing. He soon conducted an orchestra, the largest in the history of music up to that time – the “Amateur Orchestra” as it was called. He worked hard on his 76 musicians, some of whom were members of the nobility who accepted his instruction.

https://youtu.be/MO5PCMz5rgs

Bomb at the Palace of Versailles

In 1774, when he was 35, the 19-year-old Queen Marie-Antoinette invited him to play at Versailles. The midwife’s prophecy came true. The queen relaxed about matters of ceremony, and the “colorist”’s entry into the palace, not in the status of a servant, was a bombshell.

He soon became the queen's advisor, and in the evenings he would tell his mother Nanon about the wonders of the royal palace, its luxuries and its balls. His aristocratic "friends" courted him in order to take advantage of his daily meetings with the queen, who even came to Paris to listen to his music and watch him skate on the frozen Seine. The relationship with the queen was maintained until the Revolution.

“A revered rooster surrounded by a flock of beauties, he is the shining star of entertainments, revels and evening feasts,” wrote a contemporary of him. And John Adams, later the second president of the United States, wrote in 1779: “He is the most accomplished man in Europe in riding, shooting, fencing, dancing and music.”

But his life is “soaked in the sadness of loneliness” due to his inability to start a family with one of those high-class women with whom he spends his time. He has become a concept. In one of his books, Balzac writes about one of his heroes that he “fences like Saint-Georges.”

In 1774 he submitted his candidacy for the management of the Royal Academy of Music, aka the Opera. The queen supported it, the king too, but the nobility opposed it: the royal courts of Europe would ridicule the appointment. The king insisted: either he or no one. A wave of proud racist hatred against the conductor, and Paris was like a stew.

This may be the first case of professional discrimination on racial grounds in modern society. Until now, blacks were considered slaves, and who checks whether slaves have talents? Now the question was asked: When they are not slaves, can blacks develop the same abilities as white people? Yes, the queen ruled. No, argued the intellectuals of the time. And they won. Racism won.

Saint-Georges, bruised but learned from experience, managed to compose a symphony concertante and five concertos during the skirmish. His works, which scream the power of his vitality against the backdrop of his constant sadness, were the main works performed by the main orchestras in Paris. His music penetrates hearts, and passages from it have been described as “among the most beautiful in the history of music.”

Between Mozart and Haydn

More than once, on posters, his name crossed with Mozart's. But in all the extensive correspondence with his father from Paris, Mozart never mentioned even a word about the most prominent musician in France - while he spoke of others, less prominent. Jealousy of a rich and successful competitor?

Mozart preferred to be poor than to agree to have his works performed by an orchestra conducted by a mixed-race man. Not so Haydn, to whom Saint-Georges went and ordered six symphonies from him, “The Parisians,” with full payment, which he premiered with his orchestra. Saint-Georges tried his hand at writing operas. The first attempt was doomed to failure due to the shallow libretto. The queen cheered, but the next day Saint-Georges canceled the performance. His subsequent works, especially The Girl Who Is a Boy, were very successful.

The “Chicken” Symphony, one of the Parisian symphonies that Saint-Georges commissioned from Haydn

The revolution was approaching, Paris was in turmoil. During those years, Saint-Georges befriended the Duke of Orléans, the king's brother and number two in the kingdom, and his son Philippe, both of whom had liberal views, who were displeased with the luxurious life of the king, who was unaware of what was happening around him, and supported far-reaching changes.

The Black Dandy and the Duke shared an immense sympathy for England, which was then portrayed as the land of liberty. The more Louis XVI emphasized his hatred for it, the more the House of Orléans sympathized with it. The Duke became a close friend of the English Crown Prince. He and Saint-Georges frequently visited London. The Black Knight sparred with the Crown Prince, and allowed him to defeat him.

Gardens The Palais-RoyalThe Palais Royal, the palace of the House of Orléans, was then the center of affairs in Paris. In the cafes in the arcades of the Palais Royal, they prepared for the revolution and the abolition of slavery. Hunger marched the masses to occupy the Bastille, and five weeks later the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was proclaimed.

Legion of Saint George

After reaching the rank of army treasurer, his father went bankrupt, and Saint-Georges was forced to moderate his extravagance. The difficult years began. Even during the revolution, he remained the supreme symbol of conducting, fencing, and social life.

In 1790, he starred in the last hurrah of the Parisian aristocracy, which was beginning to flee abroad and prepare to return with the help of the armies of foreign kings. But when a foreign army gathered and threatened to conquer Paris and restore the king, the 52-year-old Joseph enlisted in the National Guard, falsifying his age so as not to be rejected.

The quarrels between the revolutionary factions opened his eyes to see that the revolution was going off the rails, and he wrote a pamphlet: “Everything is going to extremes, and the enemies of liberty are preparing to eliminate the true patriots, who aspire to bring about a revolution with liberty on its side” – referring to the faction of the Duke of Orléans, his friend.

He had been following the National Assembly's discussions on the black issue with attention. The whites from the colonies supported the revolution, which promised to remove trade restrictions, and in return they expected the new regime to help them fight the claims of the blacks and mixed-race people. They had the upper hand.

Robespierre supported the abolition of the word slave, but not the abolition of the slave trade. The revolutionaries also overturned the king's decree, which granted full rights to blacks and mixed-race people who were already free.

Despite everything, Joseph chose: the Revolution was his new family. The royal armies crossed the borders, and Paris, where the guillotine raged and the people sang songs, was in danger. A delegation of blacks and mixed-race people presented to the National Assembly a moving manifesto in favor of racial equality, accompanied by a proposal to establish a legion of “colored people.”

In the assembly, which had just renounced the abolition of slavery, excitement was intense. It appointed Saint-Georges as commander of a brigade and the first black colonel in the French army, the “Légion Saint-Georges”. Among the first, he recruited into his ranks the gifted swordsman Dima, the father of…

Although he fought like a lion, saved the city of Lille and founded the Legion, a relentless campaign of slander threatened Saint-Georges with his downfall. He successfully overcame the first wave. But his enemies – he did not hesitate to quarrel with Marat, who did not forgive – stirred up a second wave of slander. He was accused of desertion and tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal. But contrary to his custom of always sentencing him to the guillotine, he was acquitted.

Even the rare double miracle was not enough. In the third wave he was removed from command. He turned to the dismissed minister and demanded explanations “in the name of humanity.” A few days later he was thrown into prison, and held there for eleven months, during which time music in Paris soared to new heights of popularity. In five years, 320 operas were written. His musicians and friends celebrated. Finally, people began to raise their heads and demand his release.

The conspiracy against him was soon exposed, he was cleared of all guilt – and all he had to do was demand his return to command of the Legion. But he was confronted by a degenerate bureaucracy, an elusive enemy that could not defeat him. Robespierre was in turn sent to the guillotine, the Reign of Terror ended, and Paris returned to a cheerful life. And who cares about the complaints of an aging half-breed, who identifies himself as a loyal revolutionary, and whose father and all his relatives, tax collectors who enriched themselves at the expense of the people, had already been sent to the gallows?

And since he had no sources of income left, he was forced to work. The year was 1797, he was 58 years old, and he was once again leading an orchestra. The years and hardships had not diminished his abilities. In a short time he had once again become a leading figure in the partying society, and was once again seen embracing beautiful women, many years younger than him. A few months later he fell ill, and on June 10, 1799, he passed away.

Where did the Chevalier de Saint-Georges go?

The story is fascinating, moving, outrageous – and the curiosity never lets up: Why is nothing known about him, how did the existence of one of the most impressive figures of the 18th century disappear? The answer is simple: On January 20, 1802, Bonaparte re-established slavery after suppressing the slave revolt in Haiti with blood and fire.

This was the second death of the “Black Mozart” – the nickname Saint-Georges earned in Paris in the three years following his death, so immense was his popularity at the time. Once again, the blacks were the prey. The ruler’s decree stated that they were deprived of all creative ability, and therefore the name and memory of anyone whose personal example and work were evidence of the decree’s futility must be erased. Since then, most of his works have been lost. Only in recent years have a few of them been discovered, in the archives.

Today, two hundred years later, the time has come to discover his music, enjoy it, and work to restore his name in Western history in general and in the annals of music in particular. This will come true when the best orchestras, conductors, and musicians in the world finally dare to tackle the work of the “Negro of the Enlightenment.”

The Parisian Pictures Book

The article you just read is a chapter from the book “Parisian Pictures” written by Avital Inbar and is available as an electronic copy. At the Mendeley bookstoreThrough this book, you will become acquainted with the greats of French literature whom Avital Inbar translated and with the great chanson singers such as Yves Montaigne and the poet/singer Bressanone whom the author knew personally.

But that's not all, you can also read about the love-hate relationship between France and Israel and enjoy two translations of "Cyrano de Bergerac", one done by the author's father and the other done by Dory France some 80 years later. In short, a celebration of French culture and a must-read for every Francophile.