Pianist Charles Pettaway in 'The Black Mozart' on PCN-TV in Pennsylvania Dec. 10, 11 & 12

[Charles Pettaway]

The life, fencing and music of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) are presented at AfriClassical.com. Pianist Charles Pettaway presents a program about him on PCN-TV (Pennsylvania Cable Network) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 10, 11 and 12, 2010:

"Friday, December 10th, tune in to PCN-TV for the season finale of Humanities on the Road. Charles Pettaway’s 'The Black Mozart: Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de Saint-Georges' was filmed in front of a live audience at the Trinity Center for Urban Life in Philadelphia. In this special hour-and-a-half episode, Pettaway, who is the Visual & Performing Arts Chair at Lincoln University, explores the life and work of little-known composer Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Saint-Georges, an 18^th-century black nobleman, overcame racial barriers in French society through his musical abilities. If you can’t watch the finale on Friday see our air dates for other viewing opportunities."

Philly.com: "Philly concert to salute the flashy 'Black Mozart' of the late 1700s"

[Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799)]

Philly.com

Arts & Entertainment

Posted on Fri, Jul. 2, 2010

By TOM DI NARDO

For the Daily News

“Pianist Charles Pettaway, a professor at Lincoln University, will illuminate this extravagant personality at a free concert Thursday. He'll perform a C Major piano sonata and the Adagio in F, speak about the composer and offer two video clips of an operetta overture and the finale of a Violin Concerto. 'I knew the Adagio because my onetime teacher Natalie Hinderas recorded it,' said Pettaway, adding that he 'only began more sleuthing about the composer after finding an unexpected link on YouTube two years ago.'

“He couldn't find any piano music among Parisian publishers, 'but luckily I discovered that a French pianist named Anne Roberts had recorded all 11 sonatas. She sent me the C Major, which is not on the level of Mozart but is a delightful work, full of charming melodies. Another link to Mozart was claimed by New York Philharmonic violinist Gabriel Banat, who wrote in a biography of Saint-Georges that Mozart had borrowed a melody from one of his Symphonie concertantes."

“The concert, a collaboration between the Trinity Center and the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, will be taped as part of the council's 'Humanities on the Road' series of cultural-themed programs that air on the Pennsylvania Cable Network. WHYY host Tracey Matisak, host for the show, will also emcee the concert, which will air this fall. [The life, fencing and music of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) are presented at AfriClassical.com]

Black in Alberta: 'Black Mozart – Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges'

[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)] 

Black in Alberta
Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Black Mozart – Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges

“Joseph Bologne, Le Chevalier (Le Chevalier means knight) de Saint Georges was born on Christmas Day, 1745 in Guadeloupe to a slave and a French colonialist. His father took Le Chevalier de Saint Georges and the boy's mother to France at a young age and invested in his education and musical training, with aspirations of having his son enter into the aristocracy. Le Chevalier de Saint Georges became the best fencer in France and had an affinity for music from early on. He ascended to be the first black man to conduct France's finest orchestras and his musical compositions inspired well known composers like Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven.

He was the general of a legion of 1000 black soldiers that fought heroically during the French revolution. He was a famed lover, though never fully accepted because of his black blood. Here is a clip of a pianist performing one of Le Chevalier de Saint George's works. From YouTube.com: “Richard Alston, pianist performs 'Adagio in f minor' by Chevalier de Saint Georges composer of African descent. Please visit my web site http://www.richardcalston.com” The post also links to the Saint-Georges page at AfriClassical.com, saying: “A good website to read more about him.”