Post by erik on Jan 22, 2022 12:10:18 GMT -5
A French/African composer of the Haydn/Mozart era, Joseph Boulogne, is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight with one of his many violin concertos.
Joseph Boulogne: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 10 IN G MAJOR
Because Mozart and Haydn were the dominant figures of Western music during the last half of the 18th century, they had tended to overshadow other composers of that same era for two centuries. One of the best known examples of a composer overshadowed in that era was one whose music only really came to a much greater light as the 20th century came to a close, namely that of the French-African composer Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the son of a French colonial planter and a beautiful Senegalese slave. Boulogne’s life, which spanned from 1745 to 1799, was also a very noted violinist on par with Mozart; and during the years of 1785 and 1876, commissioned Haydn to write the set of six symphonies known as the “Paris” symphonies for the Concert de la Loge Olympique, of which Boulogne was music director. The concertos that Boulogne wrote for his instrument weren’t widely known until really the 1970’s; and it is the one known as the 10th that, in the 21st century, has started appearing on the programs of numerous chamber orchestras. While the virtuosity of this work, and its companions, is very obvious, the orchestration required is that of strings, making it even more compact than that of even the concertos either Mozart or Haydn created for them. It was largely thanks to a number of studious music scholars, especially among the African-American community, that helped Boulogne achieve a measure of popularity in our day and age that he was not able to receive in the 18th century due to his being overshadowed by maestros in Vienna and Esterhazy.
Violin: QIAN JOU
Toronto Camerata/KEVIN MALLON (Naxos)
Included:
VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR, OP. POST. NO. 2
VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAKOR, OP. 3/NO. 1
Joseph Boulogne: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 10 IN G MAJOR
Because Mozart and Haydn were the dominant figures of Western music during the last half of the 18th century, they had tended to overshadow other composers of that same era for two centuries. One of the best known examples of a composer overshadowed in that era was one whose music only really came to a much greater light as the 20th century came to a close, namely that of the French-African composer Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the son of a French colonial planter and a beautiful Senegalese slave. Boulogne’s life, which spanned from 1745 to 1799, was also a very noted violinist on par with Mozart; and during the years of 1785 and 1876, commissioned Haydn to write the set of six symphonies known as the “Paris” symphonies for the Concert de la Loge Olympique, of which Boulogne was music director. The concertos that Boulogne wrote for his instrument weren’t widely known until really the 1970’s; and it is the one known as the 10th that, in the 21st century, has started appearing on the programs of numerous chamber orchestras. While the virtuosity of this work, and its companions, is very obvious, the orchestration required is that of strings, making it even more compact than that of even the concertos either Mozart or Haydn created for them. It was largely thanks to a number of studious music scholars, especially among the African-American community, that helped Boulogne achieve a measure of popularity in our day and age that he was not able to receive in the 18th century due to his being overshadowed by maestros in Vienna and Esterhazy.
Violin: QIAN JOU
Toronto Camerata/KEVIN MALLON (Naxos)
Included:
VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR, OP. POST. NO. 2
VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAKOR, OP. 3/NO. 1