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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
David Smith in Washington

‘Why has this person been erased?’: the untold story of the Black French maestro

‘The Black contribution to classical music has always been very robust and very diverse’ … portrait of Joseph Bologne, c. 1780
‘The Black contribution to classical music has always been very robust and very diverse’ … portrait of Joseph Bologne, c 1780. Photograph: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy

It is the moment that Amadeus finally knows how Salieri felt. Strutting with arrogance, Mozart is challenged to a violin duel and upstaged by a precocious rival. His name? Joseph Bologne, AKA the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, AKA young, gifted and Black.

Whether this showdown ever took place is doubtful but it makes for a playful opening to Chevalier, a new film based on the life of the long-overlooked classical composer who was also a champion fencer, as devastating with the foil as the fiddlestick.

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