Haymarket Opera’s ‘L’Amant anonyme’ takes its cue from days gone by

Lyric soprano Nicole Cabell, who will sing Léontine in “L’Amant anonyme (The Anonymous Lover),” says the character reminds her of several Mozart heroines. (Devon Cass)

He was such a champion swordsman at the French court of King Louis XV that John Adams once said he could hit “any Button on the Coat or Waistcoat of the greatest rivals.” And none other than Marie Antoinette admired him as a virtuoso violinist, conductor and composer.

Today he is known as Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, often referred to as the Black Mozart, and an outstanding composer in his own right, if little-known.