Joseph Boulogne (aka Chevalier de Saint-Georges) may have lived during the time of the French Revolution, but he was very much a Renaissance man when it came to the arts. An accomplished violinist, conductor, and composer, he also excelled in fencing, athleticism and dancing.
He was also a contemporary and inspiration to a younger wunderkind by the name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The two were in Paris at the same time—even living under the same roof for a bit—and surely knew of each other’s reputation and music. But it is not definitively known if the pair ever spent time together in person.
Boulogne (1745-1799) even was a soldier for a spell having a first embraced and been embraced by the monarchy (Marie Antoinette was an early supporter and attendee at his concerts) before ultimately siding with the Revolutionaries.
Over the course of his life, Boulogne composed two symphonies, 12 concertos, eight symphony-concerstantes, and six opera comiques. Of those operas, only one—1780’s L’Amant Anonyme (The Anonymous Lover)— survives intact.
Portions of it will be performed by The H-Town Orchestra & Opera Company on December 28 at the SHAPE Community Center. The performance is sponsored by the Community Music Center of Houston.
The Company started in 2021 under the leadership of musician Jonathan Griffin, who will also be one of the four string players performing L’Amant Anonyme (alongside five vocalists). The fluid membership encompasses about 60 local players in total, all either Black or Brown.
“The idea to do this came up a few years ago. Jonathan’s background is in orchestra, and he teaches and performs all over the country,” says CMCH’s Henry Mosley, who also helped to form the group. “I realized that there’s a lot of people in this city who don’t get the calls to perform at TUTS or Houston Grand Opera. They do a pretty good job of diversity on their stage, but in their orchestra pits, not at all. So, we wanted to start creating opportunities.”
Why we don’t know more about Joseph Bolougne and his work can likely be traced to a simple fact: Bolougne was biracial, born to a white French plantation owner and his teenaged Black slave.
And though recognized and supported by said father, his status meant he was not afforded opportunities given to wholly white counterparts. And when he began conducting and directing the Paris Opera, some of the performers soon squashed that appointment, not wanting to be led by him due to his racial status. Though it hardly caused a trip in his step.
This performance marks the second operatic collaboration between the CMCH and HTOOC. The first opera was Treemonisha by Scott Joplin, best known as the Black progenitor of ragtime music.
“[Boulogne] was the original Black composer in the [classical] field. And when we got the idea to start performing his works, it was a no-brainer to do it,” Mosley adds.
Boulogne is also known coloquially—for better and worse—as “The Black Mozart.” And while Mosley has some strong feelings about that designation that he’d rather keep to himself, Griffin puts his views of the verbal shorthand in context.
“He was actually older than Mozart, but his music came first and was more elaborate. Since it’s around the same time, their music is similar. Very emotional and very structured” he explains. “So just to make it simpler [to understand] he’s called ‘The Black Mozart.’”
Still, it’s tantalizing to think of his career trajectory through a lens of “What If?” As in, what if he was white and had other, more open opportunities?
“It’s a common story between Scott Joplin and Chevalier de Saint-Georges. And when Chevalier fell out with the monarchy, he was in today’s terms, cancelled,” Mosley says. “So, neither of them have a huge body of work.”
The complete list of performers for this show are: Dr. Jan Taylor (conductor), Jonathan Griffin and Jason Ashley (violins), Anne Lundy (viola), and Kareem Goode (bass c.). The rotating vocalists are Arty Whittenberg, April Wheat, Vivian Mosley and
Michael Breaux.
As mentioned, L’Amant Anonyme is Boulogne’s only surviving complete opera. Of the other five, some have been lost forever while others have fragments existing. But Mosley doesn’t give up hope that more is out there.
“Some of his works may be sitting in someone’s vault. No one really knows what’s left,” he says. “But what we’re doing now, they were doing then.” But he also knows that his group will face some challenges.
“Our objective is to be the first Black opera company to perform in the new Rice Opera House. We have to [figure out] can we get ourselves fully funded and staged without the powers that be telling us we can’t fill those seats.”
Chevalier’s music and life story (some of it fictionalized, of course) has come to light in last year’s feature length film, Chevalier, starring Kelvin Harris, Jr. in the title role.
Griffin adds that this particular opera—based on a then-contemporary play of the same name—is “super popular” right now and is being performed on both coasts. “And speaking as a string player, the [music] lays so easy in the hand. It’s wonderful,” he notes.
In conversation, Mosley and Griffin have a very easy camaraderie, which they at least partially attribute to one surprising fact: They both discovered that they share the same exact birthdate, January 30. Though they decline to note the year.
“We talk every single day, and it’s so much fun. I’m always running around and Henry said ‘Let’s start H-Town Orchestra.’ I said it was a great idea, and of course it went in one ear and out the other,” Griffin laughs. “But because Henry is who he is, and he has that one track mind, he kept coming back to me about it. And he doesn’t forget anything!”
The H-Town Orchestra & Opera Company performs excerpts from L’Amant Anonyme at 3 p.m. on Thursday, December 28 at the SHAPE Community Center, 3903 Almeda. Free, but donations accepted. The H-Town Orchestra & Opera Company will also be launching a Facebook page soon.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
