“An 18th-century polymath has had his brilliant music and life diminished by a demeaning nickname,” writes composer Marcos Balter in Wednesday’s (7/22) New York Times. “Last month, Searchlight Pictures announced plans for a movie about Joseph Boulogne, the 18th-century composer also known as Chevalier de Saint-Georges. When the announcement was made, headlines resurrected yet another moniker for Boulogne: ‘Black Mozart.’ Presumably intended as a compliment, this erasure of Boulogne’s name not only subjugates him to an arbitrary white standard, but also diminishes his truly unique place in Western classical music history. Few musicians have led a life as fascinating and multifaceted as Boulogne’s…. What is known is scantily and contradictorily documented…. His first public and critical success as a composer came with his two violin concertos (Op. 2), which premiered in 1772 … featuring Boulogne himself as soloist…. Boulogne conducted the premiere of Haydn’s six Paris symphonies, among many other important commissions.… It is a remarkable fact that his music has survived two centuries of neglect caused by the systemic racism that permeates the notion of a Western canon…. This is the ultimate proof that Boulogne doesn’t need to be anyone’s second best—let alone anyone’s Black echo.” Included are excerpts of Boulogne’s music.
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