Leslie Kwan: 'look at what I found while in Paris this afternoon'

[Yesterday we received a Twitter message from Leslie Kwan, calling attention to a photo she had taken of a commemorative street sign on a Paris street]

Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) is featured at AfriClassical.com in English and French. The biography explains the history of the street's name. Here are excerpts:

Rue du Chevalier Saint-George
For many years Paris had a street named for General Richepance. In 2001 the City Council changed its name to Rue du Chevalier de Saint-George, at the request of French citizens from the West Indies.

The original sign listed the date of birth as 1739, even though historians and most leading biographers have documented it as 1745. Gabriel Banat is author of the authoritative English language biography of Saint-Georges, The Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Virtuoso of the Sword and the Bow (2006). He engaged in a lengthy effort to obtain changes in the signs for the street. On 25 March 2010, the Office of the Mayor of Paris informed him of changes.

The new signs call the street “Rue du Chevalier Saint-George,” and give the dates “1745-1799.” They add that he was “Colonel de la légion des Américains et du Midi,” [“Colonel of the Legion of the Americans and of the South”] the Legion of mainly Black volunteers Saint-Georges commanded.

Comment by email:
Thanks to Monsieur Gabriel BANAT. Jean-Claude HALLEY

Gabriel Banat Notes Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges Died at 53

[Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges: 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)]

On Wednesday, September 23, 2009 AfriClassical posted “Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) Was 54 When He Died.” Biographer Gabriel Banat is author of The Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Virtuoso of the Sword and the Bow. Hillsdale, New York: Pendragon Press, 2006. Gabriel has made a comment by email:

Hi Bill,
Thanks for your message. In fact, as Joseph was born on December 25th, 1745, in June of 1799 he was only 53 years old.

Best regards, Gabriel

Banat Says of Marie-Antoniette: 'her Music Director at Versailles was Sacchini, not Saint-Georges'

[Saint-George/Mozart Quatuors à cordes; Quatuor Antares; Integral Classic INT 221.125 (2003)]

The blog cupidscharm.blogspot.com recently discussed the musical life of France's Queen Marie-Antoinette at Versailles: “Her music instructor was the talented Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, who in his time was called 'The Black Mozart'. In working with Saint-Georges, Marie even composed music! The title of her composition is 'C’est Mon Ami'. If you’ve seen the 2006 Marie Antoinette movie by Sofia Coppola, it's the beautiful song that Kirsten sings while performing in her theatre for Louis. I don’t know why, but this song is not included on the soundtrack from the movie, but I was able to find a copy on YouTube. I turned off the party music for today on my blog, so that you could enjoy hearing Marie's song that she composed...”

The violinist Gabriel Banat is author of the most authoritative biography of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) in English, The Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Virtuoso of the Sword and the Bow, Pendragon Press (2006). He makes this comment on the post: “The only authentic reference to Saint-Georges and Marie-Antoinette is an entry by Bachaumont: 'He was invited to play music with the Queen.' From that he became her music teacher and according to some, her lover. In fact, while her music teacher in Vienna was Gluck, her Music Director at Versailles was Sacchini, not Saint-Georges. She did have an extensive music library, but it contains no compositions by herself.” [Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges is profiled at AfriClassical.com]

Biographer Gabriel Banat Comments on Discovery of Saint-Georges Death Report by Pierre Bardin

[Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges: 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)] 

On January 15, 2009, AfriClassical posted “Biographer Pierre Bardin Discovers Death Report of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799)”. On January 16, 2009, we received a comment on the post from Gabriel Banat, author of The Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Virtuoso of the Sword and the Bow. His well-documented account was also published in 2006, a few months before Pierre Bardin's book appeared:

Dear Bill, Here is the gist of what I wrote to Pierre Bardin congratulating him on his latest find about "our" chevalier'(in English) and welcoming, (thanks to you, Bill letting me have a copy of his message) the opportunity to henceforth continue our mutual correspondence by e-mail.

Cher Ami, etc., In the spirit of your generous words e.g. that "my work and yours complement

each other" I took the liberty to point out that, as you know,the two documents reproduced 

exclusively in my book, "The Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Virtuoso of the Sword and the Bow, 

(published in June, 2006) proved that the latter did not die alone. Moreover, a sentence in the 

obituary: "some time before his death, he stayed with his friend (Nicholas Duhamel)", and an 

entry in the second, "Nicholas Duhamel, Ex officer same house, rue Boucherat 13," signed by 

the collector of his remains, already corrected the "impression that he died alone and in his 

own house on rue Chartres".

Entry in doc. DQ839, City of Paris arch. by Chagneau, ("collector of remains") (Page 520 in my book). Obituary in "Courier des spectacles" June 10, 1799, by J.A.Cuvelier (Page 484 in my book). Thanks, Bill, and keep up the good work!  Gabriel Banat