The Life of Joseph Boulogne

The Life of Joseph Boulogne

Saint-Georges, Joseph Boulogne de (1745 - 1799)

Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was widely regarded as the most accomplished man of his age. Not only was he among the most important musicians in Paris during the pre-Revolutionary period but he was also a superb all-round athlete and man of arms. Among connoisseurs of the art of fencing Saint-Georges was considered the finest swordsman in Europe, possessed of extraordinary speed, flexibility and grace, qualities which he also exhibited in abundance as a violinist. The combination of artist, athlete and man of action - for he also held military commands during the Revolutionary period - is unique in the history of music and the man himself scarcely less extraordinary than the phenomenal range of his talents.

In an age when slavery was endemic and slaves regarded as 'moveable objects', beasts of burden to be starved, beaten, tortured and killed at will, Saint-Georges, a mulatto, was without doubt one of its most celebrated men. His origins, in many older published accounts, are incorrect in detail while remaining essentially accurate in substance. Recent research, notably that of Emil Smidak, has established that his father was one George de Bologne Saint-George, a former Gentleman of the King's Bedchamber and an important planter at Basse-Terre, Guadaloupe. George was the son of Pierre de Bologne, a wealthy colonist and major in the Lonvilliers regiment in Guadaloupe. According to a petition Pierre de Bologne, George's elder brother, made in 1769-1770, the family traced its descent from the "noble and ancient house of Bologne, originating in Italy, and from the city of that name". The younger Pierre de Bologne acquired a significant reputation as a poet and was admitted to the Academy of the Inestricati of Bologne in Italy. The Bologne family owned thriving sugar and coffee plantations and many of them held senior ranks in the colony's armed forces. George de Bologne Saint-George (b.1710)married Elizabeth FranÐ*oise Jeanne Mйrican on 8 September 1739 and on 21 January 1740, a daughter was born, Elizabeth Bйnйdictine de Bologne, the only child whose name appears in any of the extant documentation concerning the family. There is, however, one exception to this. In a statement written around 1782 in connection with a dispute between the parish and the Bologne family over its burial rights in the chapel of the Holy Virgin of the church of St-FranÐ*ois in Basse-Terre, the parish priest wrote that Bologne St-George had two children, a girl and a boy, "both living in France". The boy is believed to be Joseph de Bologne Saint-Georges, the famous swordsman and composer.

In 1747, while paying a visit to his uncle Samuel de Bologne, George became involved in a scuffle with a fellow guest. Le Vanier St-Robert was wounded on the nose but was able to return home unaided. Three days later he died, probably of infection rather than from the wound itself, and Saint-George found himself accused of murder. He fled Basse-Terre and on 31 March 1748 was convicted and sentenced in absentia to "be hanged and strangled until death ensues on the gallows erected in the corner of the public square in this town of Basseterre" and had all his good confiscated. The hanging was carried out in effigy on 25 October 1748. A note appended to his dossier tells us that Bologne Saint-George was subsequently pardoned - the date is not recorded - but it must have been before 1755 when he is known to have been back in Basse Terre.

It is believed that George de Bologne Saint-George spent his exile on St. Domingue (Haiti) although no documentation has been found to confirm this. What is certain , however, is that Joseph was born while his father was in exile. Two official documents from the Revolutionary period in Joseph's hand, gives his date of birth as [Christmas Day] 1748. The date 1739, the year generally quoted, is based on his death certificate. Nothing is known of his mother beyond the fact that she was a beautiful young slave of Senegalese origin who was given the name Nanon. She must have been one of the Bologne-Saint-Georges's household slaves and may indeed have accompanied George into exile. It reflects well on the character of George that he took Nanon along with Joseph when he and his legal wife returned in 1759 to live in France.

The domestic situation of George Bologne de Saint-George seems to have been unconventional to say the least. Whatever the relationship he enjoyed with his legal wife it seems odd given the rigid social etiquette of the class to which he belonged that George should have brought his illegitimate son and his slave mistress to France at the same time as his wife. That such an action was grounded in affection for the boy - and possibly his mother - is borne out by later developments. Not only did George allow Joseph to use the family name - evidence that he acknowledged his paternity - but he also paid large sums of money for the boy's education. It is likely that Joseph gave signs of his precocious gifts at a very early age, even before the family returned to France. Knowing that in the colonies this remarkable boy would be condemned to a life of humiliation and casual brutality his father opted to bring him to France where he would have greater opportunities and suffer less overt prejudice. It is not over-idealistic to attribute such noble qualities to the father since the evidence of Joseph's special treatment is undeniable. George's decision to give his son the best possible education was vindicated early on by his spectacular achievements and George must have taken immense pride in this. Of one thing we can be quite certain. If George had not shown a genuine interest in his son's welfare then the name Joseph Boulogne de Saint-Georges would be unknown today.

The earliest biographical sketch of Saint-Georges, the Notice Historique by his friend La Boлssiиre, asserts that Joseph's facility for learning astounded those who were engaged to teach him. Doubtless George hired private tutors to prepare him for entry to a regular educational institution and to ensure that he would be able to mix with ease with members of the aristocratic class to which he belonged.

The famous swordsman Henry Angelo claimed that Saint-George's mother Nanon was "one of the most beautiful women that Africa has ever sent to the plantations" and that "St-Georges combined in his person his mother's grace and good looks and his father's vigour and assurance". When Saint-Georges turned thirteen his father, perhaps intending him for a military career, boarded him with the Master of Arms, La Boлssiиre. La Boлssiиre's