An Uncommon Chevalier

Show Description

Joseph de Bologne, Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 3, No. 1
W. A. Mozart, Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216
Joseph Haydn, “Paris” Symphony No. 83 in G Minor (“The Hen”)

An accomplished composer, violinist, conductor, fencer, and dancer, Joseph de Bologne became the toast of Paris in the early 1770s. The son of a plantation owner and an African slave, the younger mixed-race Bologne acquired the title Chevalier de Saint-Georges thanks to Louis XV, in whose personal guard he briefly served, and eventually became a favorite of Marie Antoinette. With a tuneful violin concerto from Saint-Georges, a comparable work from a contemporary, and a symphony commissioned by the Chevalier, this program transports us to a lively Parisian concert hall in the mid 1780s, just before the Revolution changed everything.

Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin
Cynthia Roberts, violin˚

˚Ars Lyrica debut

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