This remarkable individual just got a spot on my radar screen.
His real name was Joseph Bologne.
He was the illegitimate son of a white plantation owner and a Senegalese slave. He was born on the island of Guadeloupe.
He was a musician, a composer and an orchestra leader. He was a mentor to Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. For a while he lived in the same house as Mozart. Mozart copied some of his works. Over 300 of his compositions were destroyed when Napoleon came to power and burned books and other pieces of cultural history.
He was a soldier. He had his own regiment. At one point he was called "the best fencer in Europe".
He was a friend to Louis XVI and King George of England. He was a tutor of Marie Antoinette. American President John Adams has diary entries about him. In fact this portrait was painted by Mather Brown, who also painted Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
Somehow, this amazing individual disappeared from the history books.
He died of stomach cancer at age 54.
en.wikipedia.org
His real name was Joseph Bologne.
He was the illegitimate son of a white plantation owner and a Senegalese slave. He was born on the island of Guadeloupe.
He was a musician, a composer and an orchestra leader. He was a mentor to Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. For a while he lived in the same house as Mozart. Mozart copied some of his works. Over 300 of his compositions were destroyed when Napoleon came to power and burned books and other pieces of cultural history.
He was a soldier. He had his own regiment. At one point he was called "the best fencer in Europe".
He was a friend to Louis XVI and King George of England. He was a tutor of Marie Antoinette. American President John Adams has diary entries about him. In fact this portrait was painted by Mather Brown, who also painted Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
Somehow, this amazing individual disappeared from the history books.
He died of stomach cancer at age 54.
