Daniel Marciano On Discovery of Death Report of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges

[Le chevalier de Saint-Georges, le fils de Noémie (Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Noémie's Son);

Daniel Marciano; Thespis (2005)]

On January 15, 2009 AfriClassical posted “Biographer Pierre Bardin Discovers Death Report of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799)” Daniel Marciano is a Professor Emeritus at l'Université de Franche-Comté at Besançon, France. Prof. Marciano kindly translated the death report and the accompanying remarks of Pierre Bardin. He is an author of an historical novel and plays, and maintains a website on Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges in French. At the invitation of Jean-Claude Halley of the blog Guadeloupe Attitude, Daniel Marciano gives his opinion of the historical significance of the discovery:

“J.C. Halley invited me to react to P. Bardin’s latest discovery and among other things I wrote: When dealing with fiction, turning a character into a victim on purpose is a dramatic process in order that the reader may feel sorry for such a beautiful soul, alone at the end of his life, forgotten by all after his death. However, biographical rigor forbids one to state anything which was not corroborated by reliable archive documents.

Personally I pitied St-G in my novel as I was working towards a movie but most biographers put a wrong emphasis on St-G suffering from discrimination, unable to found a family, giving the impression at times that his life was a constant ordeal. In fact on the whole he led an enviable life, conducted the best orchestras of the XVIIIth century, was admired by the ladies of the court and was the friend of Kings and Princes. I inserted a long comment on this point in my web site called Victimisation et Oubli [Victimized and Forgotten]. The last document P. Bardin discovered is precious inasmuch as his discovery shows that the most eminent representatives of the fencing community admired him, and grieved for St-G’s death. People were close to him when he died.”

Daniel Marciano
Jean-Claude Halley
Pierre Bardin
Le chevalier de Saint-George
le fils de Noémie