Joseph Boulogne, the Chevalier de Saint-George and the Problem With Black Mozart
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19003952 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julian A Ledford (0000-0003-3963-7677, Sewanee: The University of the South, TN, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 60-82 |
| Publication date | 2019-12-12 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Black Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9347 • E-ISSN: 1552-4566 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0021934719892239 |
| OpenAlex | W2995195586 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 14 |
This article discourages the implementation and use of the term Black Mozart as a popular descriptor for, arguably, the most influential Black composer, violinist, and fencer in 18th-century France: Joseph Boulogne, the Chevalier de Saint-George. By theorizing the term Black Mozart in the discursive frameworks of Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, Sartre’s Black Orpheus, and Ter Ellingson’s Myth of the Noble Savage, I reveal the epistemological and ontological problems that the term presents. I find that, while Black Mozart is a clever way of drawing attention to Saint-George’s music and, subsequently, his life, the term occludes the critical treatment of the Black subject to the point of erasure: Saint-George is replaced by a mythicized inferior of the status quo’s perfect symbol of 18th-century classical music. I conclude that by removing the yoke of Mozart’s influence on the reception of Saint-George, we expose him to the fullness of our critical reasoning and restore to him the name he earned for all his talents, trials, and triumphs
Art · Art history · George (robot) · Literature · MOZART · Mythology · SAINT · Violin · White (mutation) · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy · Theater, Performance, and Music History
Créolisation, Créolité, Martinique, and the Dangerous Intellectual Deception of “Tous Créoles!”
Peau noire, masques blancs
Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Man of Music and Gentleman-at-Arms
The Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Monstrous Alterity in Early Modern Travel Accounts
The Myth of the Noble Savage
L'orchestre de la Société Olympique en 1786
The Chevalier de Saint-Georges
| Citations per year | 0.18 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2022 (8) |
| Highly cited | No |