Joseph Boulogne, the Chevalier De St George: Much Forgotten Black Composer of the 18th Century France

Abstract

Joseph Boulogne, the Chevalier de St George is one of the interesting and fascinating characters of the 18th century France. He was one of the first black musicians of his time. He was a master of fencing, a classical music composer, personal music teacher to Marie Antoinette, an active abolitionist and a colonel to the Legion of Saint Georges, the first black regiment formed in France and Europe. The aim of this research to introduce this mostly forgotten and underestimated violinist and composer to the Turkish reader. Among the research done the course of this work, very little information was found in Turkish about this black composer. To be precise a badly translated version of what is found on Wikipedia. It is hoped that this black composer will be introduced to the Turkish music scene and his works will be of interest to the readers.