Monsieur de Saint-George: "The American" [Paperback]

Alain Guédé (Author), Gilda M. Roberts (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 2005

His life is the stuff of legend: born in 1739 of a slave mother and a French noble father, he became the finest swordsman of his age, an insider at the court of The Sun King, and, most of all, an accomplished musician who came to be known as the “Black Mozart.”

His name is Joseph Bologne, though he was better known as Monsieur de Saint-George, and, because of his origins, “the American.” Alain Guédé recreates the story of this memorable individual, whose musical compositions are at long last being rediscovered and whose story will never again be forgotten.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Virtuoso, seducer, colonel, revolutionary...the extraordinary life of the first black composer.”--Le Monde

“Fascinating.”--U.S. News and World Report “Black History” Round-Up

“Vividly recreating the lively, often horrific culture of Creole plantation life...Guede’s narrative, in Gilda Roberts’ elegant translation, glides through French history....While mindful of the obstacles Saint-George had to overcome, this biography shows that his life and musical career were pretty amazing in their own right.” --St. Petersburg Times

From the Back Cover

His life is the stuff of legend: born in 1739 of a slave mother and a French noble father, he became the finest swordsman of his age, an insider at the court of The Sun King, and, most of all, an accomplished musician who came to be known as the “Black Mozart.”

His name is Joseph Bologne, though he was better known as Monsieur de Saint-George, and, because of his origins, “the American.” Alain Guédé recreates the story of this memorable individual, whose musical compositions are at long last being rediscovered and whose story will never again be forgotten.

“Virtuoso, seducer, colonel, revolutionary...the extraordinary life of the first black composer.”--Le Monde

“Fascinating.”--U.S. News and World Report “Black History” Round-Up

“Vividly recreating the lively, often horrific culture of Creole plantation life...Guede’s narrative, in Gilda Roberts’ elegant translation, glides through French history....While mindful of the obstacles Saint-George had to overcome, this biography shows that his life and musical career were pretty amazing in their own right.” --St. Petersburg Times

Alain Guédé is a French journalist. A leading expert on the life and music of Saint-George, he has organized a website, www.saint-george.fr.st/, that follows developments in the rediscovery of this extraordinary figure.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Picador (January 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312310285
• ISBN-13: 978-0312310288
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,695,474 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Caveat!, June 16, 2007

By 

Dominique R. Delerma (Appleton WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monsieur de Saint-George: "The American" (Paperback)

I have not read the English translation of this book, originally issued in France, but for starts the Saint-Georges scholars know he was not born on Christmas Day of 1739, but in 1745. The author is a passionate supporter of this composer's music, but he bases his information on fiction and is not either a disciplined musician or scholar. The only published source for any informantion on Saint-Georges is the magnificent work of Gabriel Banat, a virtuosic musicologist who bases his splendid book on primary documents.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Man with the Midas Touch, April 17, 2005

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monsieur de Saint-George: "The American" (Paperback)

Joseph Bologne, also known as Monsieur de Saint-George, could do it all. This brother was a master of fencing, connoisseur of women, hunting, riding, and dancing, political activist and patriot, a renowned violinist, and a prolific composer affectionately dubbed the "black Mozart." Saint-George was at home among kings and queens and became the first black colonel in the French army. His regiment consisted of a thousand men of color and became known as the Legion of Saint-George. Saint-George became so popular in his lifetime that he was mentioned in the letters and memoirs of other great men of that era, including John Adams and Alexandre Dumas.

Alain Guédé, a French journalist and one of the foremost experts on Saint-George, has accumulated two decades of research on the popular chevalier (knight) and produced a biography replete with minute details of this gifted man's life. At times, the book reads like a Hedda Hopper gossip column as Guédé shares tidbits that are undoubtedly fact, but so sensational that they border on the incredible.

Guédé used his extensive research to share the story of Saint-George from his semi-privileged beginnings as the son of a slave and a French nobleman on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe to his place at the height of Parisian society. This minutiae makes for many shifts in the timeline and becomes rather confusing, necessitating frequent re-reads to regain proper perspective. Although keeping up with the generations of aristocratic families and their various political and social machinations that affect Saint-George's fortunes becomes overwhelming and dry at times, the attention to detail is to be commended in re-introducing the world to a true renaissance man. (RAW Rating: 3.5)

Reviewed by Kim Anderson Ray
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers