Afro-French Composer, Violinist & Conductor Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges Was Born on December 25, 1745 on Guadeloupe

Violin Concertos, Op. 5, Nos. 1 & 2;
Op. 3, No. 1; Op. 8, No. 9
Bernard Thomas Chamber Orchestra
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Violin 
Arion 68093 (1990)

Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) was an Afro-French composer, violinist and conductor as well as France's best fencer and Colonel of a Black Legion in the French Revolution.

His biography can be found at 
http://chevalierdesaintgeorges.homestead.com/Page1.html

Saint-Georges was born on a Caribbean plantation where his mother was a slave owned by his father.  His aristocratic education at a fencing academy in France led him to become a champion fencer as a young man.  He soon began playing the violin.  Before long he was a concert master, and he began composing.  

Many CDs of his music have been recorded, mainly in Europe but also in the United States and Canada.  A DVD of the life of Saint-Georges has been produced in Canada.