Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. As the
Speaker 1: sun dimmed over the River Seine, Paris's best and brightest
Speaker 1: were gathering for a duel. Towering wigs and tailored suits
Speaker 1: poured out of horse drawn carriages onto cobblestone streets, each
Speaker 1: new arrival with one name on their lips, the Chevalier
Speaker 1: de Saint George. By seventeen seventy five, tales of the
Speaker 1: Saint Georges fencing prowess had spread far beyond France's borders,
Speaker 1: though tonight he stood before his opponent not with a sword,
Speaker 1: but with a beau. More specific, a beau and a violin.
Speaker 1: The audience gathered outside the hall for a performance by
Speaker 1: one of Paris's premier orchestras, the concer de Amateur, who,
Speaker 1: contrary to the way their name sounds, were anything but amateur.
Speaker 1: The orchestra was composed of the city's foremost professional and
Speaker 1: semi professional musicians, born from within the carefully curated ranks
Speaker 1: of the city's social elite. Saint George had initially entered
Speaker 1: into the amateurs upon his reputation playing salons across Paris.
Speaker 1: But in just four short years he had worked his
Speaker 1: way up from mere well amateur to the director of
Speaker 1: the entire ensemble, and tonight he was debuting his newest
Speaker 1: composition that had the whole city of buzz, a symphony concertante.
Speaker 1: The late eighteenth century was the height of the classical
Speaker 1: music era, and symphony concertante were just one of the
Speaker 1: many innovations made within the genre during this time. Unlike
Speaker 1: a typical orchestral performance with an ensemble supporting a single soloist,
Speaker 1: these concerts featured not one, but two soloists, in this
Speaker 1: case violinists playing off each other in tandem, each almost
Speaker 1: trying to outplay the other, as if dueling within the
Speaker 1: piece itself. If you're still having a hard time wrapping
Speaker 1: your head around the concept, just think of the movie
Speaker 1: eight Mile with eminem or on the complete opposite side
Speaker 1: of the film spectrum, the riff off scene in Pitch Perfect.
Speaker 1: Each performer is meant to enhance the overall piece, but
Speaker 1: at its heart, the dual soloists brings something to the
Speaker 1: performance that a typical concert lacks. Competition. Fortunately, for Saint George,
Speaker 1: competition was something of a second nature for him, it
Speaker 1: almost had to be. The audience may have quieted their
Speaker 1: chatter as Saint George and his company took to the
Speaker 1: stage and began tuning their instruments, but their hush did
Speaker 1: untquell the skeptical glances and whispers of condescension pressing toward
Speaker 1: him as the minutes until the performance began continued to
Speaker 1: count down. The truth was the Symphony Concertant may have
Speaker 1: been designed as a competition against another violinist, but Saint
Speaker 1: George's real opponent remained what it had always been his
Speaker 1: entire life, his audience. It would have been enough to
Speaker 1: have been a wealthy, attractive, renowned swordsman turned professional violinist
Speaker 1: directing one of Paris's finest orchestras, all before the age
Speaker 1: of thirty five, but of course that wasn't what the
Speaker 1: audience saw. Instead, the reason that the audience was so
Speaker 1: skeptical of Saint George's success was not because they were
Speaker 1: wary of his talent or success, but because of the
Speaker 1: color of his skin. Born to a French plantation owner
Speaker 1: and an enslaved woman in the French colony of Guadelupe,
Speaker 1: his deep brown complexion held more than the narrative the
Speaker 1: audience consciously or unconsciously projected onto him. Some of his audience,
Speaker 1: no doubt, thought that his quote exotic background added to
Speaker 1: the theatric of it all, a footnote to an anecdote
Speaker 1: they would go on to tell at their next dinner party.
Speaker 1: But for the Chevalier de Saint George, the concertint allowed
Speaker 1: him to do what he did best. He boldly entered
Speaker 1: an arena into which he was expected to conform, and
Speaker 1: proceeded to beat them all at their own game. I'm
Speaker 1: Danish schwartz and this is noble blood. Our story begins
Speaker 1: in seventeen fifty three with a man and his son
Speaker 1: on a ship headed into port off the coast of France.
Speaker 1: The man's name was George Boulogne de Saint George, a
Speaker 1: wealthy plantation owner on the small island of Guadalupe, a
Speaker 1: French colony mostly known for their sugar exports. His son, Joseph,
Speaker 1: was accompanying his father to France to receive an education
Speaker 1: he would have been otherwise unable to receive were he
Speaker 1: to stay on his home island. It wasn't due to
Speaker 1: the lack of schooling available on the island, but rather
Speaker 1: due to the nature of the boy's birth. Joseph Bolonne
Speaker 1: was the son of an enslaved woman named Nano, who
Speaker 1: his father, George, had been having an affair with for
Speaker 1: nearly a decade. I want to make it absolutely clear,
Speaker 1: though George seemed to genuinely care for Nanon and for
Speaker 1: his son Joseph, this in no way made Nanon's relationship
Speaker 1: with George consensual. In addition to the fact that at
Speaker 1: the time of Joseph's birth in seventeen forty five, Nana
Speaker 1: was just sixteen years old, barely more than a child herself,
Speaker 1: George was in a position of power over her that
Speaker 1: made even the question of consent just well out of
Speaker 1: the question. But power dynamics aside, it was evident that
Speaker 1: George loved his son, and upon realizing that Joseph would
Speaker 1: never receive an equal education in Guadalupe, where mixed race
Speaker 1: children were unquestionably ostracized within the community, he chose to
Speaker 1: accompany his son to France to provide him an education
Speaker 1: fit for a gentleman. As I'm sure you can imagine,
Speaker 1: this was not a common practice within the majority of
Speaker 1: mixed race children in the French island. Colonies. In sixteen
Speaker 1: eighty five, King Louis the fifteenth enacted what became known
Speaker 1: as the Code Noir, a decree initially written to prevent
Speaker 1: enslaved women from being forced into sexual slavery by their owners.
Speaker 1: Over the years, the Code Noir was largely ignored in
Speaker 1: the colonies as there was no way to consistently police
Speaker 1: the practice, leading to a large growth in the mixed
Speaker 1: race population among the island colonies. However, one piece of
Speaker 1: the Code Noir that was largely followed was the requirement
Speaker 1: of the mother to take care of the resulting child,
Speaker 1: meaning the mixed race child was more often than not
Speaker 1: relegated to a life of indentured servitude or slavery as well.
Speaker 1: George obviously didn't want such a life for his son,
Speaker 1: and with anti quote Mulatto sentiment on the rise in
Speaker 1: the colonies, he made the decision to take Joseph to France,
Speaker 1: where stigmas against mixed race children were, while still existent,
Speaker 1: actually not nearly as restrictive as they were in the colonies.
Speaker 1: There's little known about Joseph's early schooling, but considering his
Speaker 1: musical prowess later in life, it's assumed that in addition
Speaker 1: to reading and write, he was also tutored in violin
Speaker 1: and fencing, the latter of which became the primary focus
Speaker 1: of his studies when, at the age of thirteen, he
Speaker 1: was enrolled in the Mapre de la Boissi Fencing Academy
Speaker 1: in Paris. It was here Joseph's reputation would begin to
Speaker 1: precede him, as his success in school labeled him not
Speaker 1: just as the quote Mulado student, but as a fencing prodigy.
Speaker 1: It's also worth realizing his success as a fencer and
Speaker 1: later as a musician was likely born out of necessity,
Speaker 1: thrust into a society that immediately projected its own prejudices
Speaker 1: on him due to the color of his skin. Like
Speaker 1: so many other immigrants and people of color living under
Speaker 1: power structures made predominantly by and four white people, Joseph
Speaker 1: had two choices, be excellent or be nothing at all.
Speaker 1: He may have had his father's money and connections, but
Speaker 1: as we will later find out, even that was never
Speaker 1: a guarantee. His skin would always be the first thing
Speaker 1: people saw, and without his father there, he was just
Speaker 1: a mixed race black man in a predominantly white world
Speaker 1: with little to know opportunities making a name for himself
Speaker 1: was never a choice, it was necessity. And so, with
Speaker 1: the faces of the enslaved people who shared his skin
Speaker 1: on the island of Guadaloupe, ever likely present in the
Speaker 1: back of his mind, Joseph became excellent.
Speaker 2: Quote. Joseph made such rapid progress that at fifteen he
Speaker 2: was beating the strongest fighters. At seventeen he acquired the
Speaker 2: greatest bed imaginable. Yet he accomplished all that with a
Speaker 2: sweetness of manner that charmed even those among his peers
Speaker 2: who had good reason to envy his success. End quote.
Speaker 2: These were the words of the son of La Bois Roye,
Speaker 2: and by seventeen Joseph's reputation as a fencing virtuoso extended
Speaker 2: far beyond Paris. But of course that meant that the
Speaker 2: prejudice against him spread far as well. In seventeen sixty two,
Speaker 2: fencing master Alexandra Picard de Bremont went on record disparaging Joseph,
Speaker 2: calling him quote the mulado of La Boissarrie, as if
Speaker 2: he were the academy's mere side show attraction rather than
Speaker 2: a talented fencer. Picard was most likely calling out Joseph
Speaker 2: to promote his own fencing school, which he had just
Speaker 2: obtained his license for, but the words were enough to
Speaker 2: spur Joseph into action, challenging the master to a duel
Speaker 2: when he was just the age of seventeen. Picard readily
Speaker 2: accepted the challenge no doubt, discounting young Joseph based on
Speaker 2: his age and his skin color. What Picard was not
Speaker 2: expecting was to lose. On the day of the event,
Speaker 2: hundreds of spectators gathered to witness the now widely publicized display.
Speaker 2: Bedding pools were the talk of the crowd, and each
Speaker 2: side was also most likely loudly sharing their opinions on
Speaker 2: the recent decree by French Attorney General Guillame Ponce de
Speaker 2: la Grove to register all blacks and quote mulattoes in France.
Speaker 2: Tension hung thick in the air as the two men
Speaker 2: took their places before their audience, but the strict moment
Speaker 2: of decorum was short lived. Joseph, known for his incredible
Speaker 2: speed and swift attacks, lunged at his opponent, and before
Speaker 2: the audience could even let go of the breath they
Speaker 2: had collectively been holding before the duel began, the young
Speaker 2: student Quote, whose attacks were a perpetual series of hits
Speaker 2: beat him with ease, end quote, excellence or nothing. For
Speaker 2: his victory, Joseph's father bought his son a horse and buggy,
Speaker 2: essentially the equivalent of gifting his son a new car
Speaker 2: for his win. From there, Joseph's reputation only continued to climb.
Speaker 2: Some scholars believe that even the king may have had
Speaker 2: his hand in the bedding pool that day, since soon
Speaker 2: after the duel and Joseph's subsequent graduation, he was giving
Speaker 2: a position in the King's life guard, and with this
Speaker 2: position came the title we know Joseph Bolone as today
Speaker 2: the Chevalier de Saint George. Following his graduation from fencing academy,
Speaker 2: San George settled into his new life in Paris as
Speaker 2: part of the King's guard. Unlike the guard decorps, whose
Speaker 2: job it was to be stationed at gates, the Gendame
Speaker 2: du bois were largely ceremonial guards who would escort their
Speaker 2: Majesty's carriage only on special occasions. To supplement his time
Speaker 2: on the King's guard, Saint George continued his training with
Speaker 2: a reputation to uphold. He didn't want to fall into obscurity.
Speaker 2: But in addition to fencing, Joseph began attending salons in Paris,
Speaker 2: which is where he would make his first musical debut
Speaker 2: into society. His prowess with a sword seemed to carry
Speaker 2: over to the violin, and it wasn't long before the
Speaker 2: whole of Paris took notice. He became the darling of
Speaker 2: the most prestigious Parisian salons, and soon the guest of
Speaker 2: many of Paris's most prestigious beds. He was no longer
Speaker 2: the young boy who had first sailed over from Guadeloupe,
Speaker 2: but he was a rather striking young man whose rigorous
Speaker 2: training had him filling out the tailored suits he wore
Speaker 2: around the city. The confidence with which he carried himself
Speaker 2: only added to his charm, and the women around him
Speaker 2: were quick to take notice. At this point in time
Speaker 2: in Paris, marriage wasn synonymous with monogamy, only discretion. As such,
Speaker 2: being an attractive and famously talented swordsman slash violin prodigy,
Speaker 2: Saint George was never short on admirers. Saint George was
Speaker 2: reported to have had numerous affairs throughout his life, including
Speaker 2: one in the late seventeen eighties with none other than
Speaker 2: noble blood alum and famous adulteress, Lady Seymour Worseley. But
Speaker 2: the most notable affair among them was with a dancer
Speaker 2: for the Academy Royale de Musique who went by the
Speaker 2: name La Guiemins. Though as will come to see, it
Speaker 2: wasn't so much their affair that would go on to
Speaker 2: affect Joseph's career, but rather his denial of her advances,
Speaker 2: but we'll get into that later. While he was charming
Speaker 2: his way across the city's most prestigious salons, soon Parisian
Speaker 2: aristocrats gave way to world renowned musicians eager to gain
Speaker 2: his favor. Eventually he would be introduced to Francoise Joseph Gossek,
Speaker 2: who would go on to become Joseph's compositional teacher and
Speaker 2: ultimately his key into the Concertieaure. When Goseck founded the
Speaker 2: Amateur in seventeen sixty nine, he asked Saint George to
Speaker 2: come on as one of the violin chairs in the
Speaker 2: semi professional ensemble. By seventeen seventy three, when Goseque decided
Speaker 2: to retire as director, Saint George had already risen to
Speaker 2: first chair and it was without question that he would
Speaker 2: become his successor. During his tenure as director of the
Speaker 2: Concert d' amateur, Saint George would compose more than nine
Speaker 2: violin concertos and would lead the orchestra to stretch the
Speaker 2: idea of what classical music could be. His symphony concertante
Speaker 2: with dueling violin soloists, broadened the horizons of the genre,
Speaker 2: so much so that he would eventually capture the attention
Speaker 2: of perhaps my favorite noble blood, Royal Marie Antoinette. As
Speaker 2: we all know, following the death of King Louis the
Speaker 2: fifteenth in seventeen seventy four, King Louis the sixteenth ascended
Speaker 2: the throne with Marie Antoinette at his side. Though she
Speaker 2: was mostly relegated to their palace in Versailles, the queen
Speaker 2: was more than familiar with goings on among culture in Paris,
Speaker 2: so when Joseph Boulone, the Chevalier de Saint George, who
Speaker 2: led Paris's most popular orchestra, was proposed as the new
Speaker 2: musical director of the Paris Opera, he seemed the obvious choice.
Speaker 2: Of course, nothing was ever that simple. Remember La Guiemin,
Speaker 2: the rumored jilted lover of Saint George, while she, along
Speaker 2: with two other dancers from the Academy Royal de Musique,
Speaker 2: petitioned Marie Antoinette, telling the Queen quote their honor and
Speaker 2: their delicate conn could never allow them to submit to
Speaker 2: the orders of a mulatto. End in the Parisian salons,
Speaker 2: Saint George's skin tone was often considered an afterthought to
Speaker 2: those around him. His talent and charm spoke more than
Speaker 2: enough for itself, but at the same time, he was
Speaker 2: never a suitable candidate for marriage, only for trysts behind
Speaker 2: closed doors. He was never granted entrance into the most
Speaker 2: exclusive rooms in all of Paris. People clamored to hear
Speaker 2: his concertos, Yet his admission into society was only contingent
Speaker 2: on his excellence and performance, and even then it wasn't
Speaker 2: enough to be given a position he rightfully deserved. In
Speaker 2: order to diffuse the scandal of whether Saint George would
Speaker 2: become the music director of the Paris Opera, King Louis
Speaker 2: the sixteenth opted to turn the Paris Opera over to
Speaker 2: the City of Paris. In short, deep unplug the Nintendo
Speaker 2: if You're losing the game solution, handing the reins over
Speaker 2: to his intendant of light entertainment. But for Saint George,
Speaker 2: the damage was already done. Though he continued to direct
Speaker 2: the concert to amateurs, the loss of the Paris Opera
Speaker 2: would stay with him, even as the straits of Paris
Speaker 2: began to disintegrate around him. In the wake of the
Speaker 2: scandal with the Paris Opera. Marie Antoinette was not so
Speaker 2: quick to let Saint George fade away. Instead, she opted
Speaker 2: to hold private celons in Versailles, where she would invite
Speaker 2: him and the most notable musicians in Paris to play
Speaker 2: for her, oftentimes with her accompanying them on the piano forte,
Speaker 2: and in return, Marie would often attend performances of the amateurs,
Speaker 2: using her power to bring attention and prestige to the enterprise.
Speaker 2: She came so often that the orchestra began wearing their
Speaker 2: finest clothes for every concert because they never knew when
Speaker 2: she might show up. But Saint George was not so
Speaker 2: quick as to put the opera music director scandal behind him. Instead,
Speaker 2: he seemingly used his anger to fuel the next portion
Speaker 2: of his career writing opera. Unfortunately for him, his next
Speaker 2: composition wouldn't be destined for the great success he was
Speaker 2: accustomed to. His first opera, Ernestine, premiered on July nineteenth,
Speaker 2: seventeen seventy seven. It subsequently closed on July nineteenth, seventeen
Speaker 2: seventy seven, lasting only one night. Saint George's first opera
Speaker 2: was criticized by the press for its sub par libretto, which,
Speaker 2: to be fair, Saint George did not write, but still
Speaker 2: a flop was a flop, but that didn't stop him
Speaker 2: from writing. The failure did provide him with one new opportunity.
Speaker 2: The Marquise de Montesson, the wife of the Duke of Orleans,
Speaker 2: was interested in funding her own private theater, and after
Speaker 2: seeing Ernestine, she realized that she wanted the Chevalier de
Speaker 2: Saint George for the job. It may seem peculiar to
Speaker 2: pursue a composure of a failed opera to write for
Speaker 2: her theater, but by seventeen seventy seven, Joseph's father had died,
Speaker 2: and despite him leaving a substantial amount of money to
Speaker 2: both his son and the Chevalier's mother, Nana, the inheritance
Speaker 2: ultimately found its way almost entirely into the pockets of
Speaker 2: Joseph's legitimate half sister, so on the heels of Joseph's
Speaker 2: fail Montesant likely knew that he was in no position
Speaker 2: to turn down her offer, which meant that she had
Speaker 2: a new music director for the Theatre Montrescent. As it happened,
Speaker 2: Saint George's second opera, La Chase, which had its first
Speaker 2: performance to an invited audience at the Theatron Montressin, was
Speaker 2: a declared hit, despite only running for four performances, for
Speaker 2: as it seemed, was better than one though, and Saint
Speaker 2: George would go on to write at least one more
Speaker 2: opera before disaster would once again strike. In seventeen eighty five,
Speaker 2: the Duke of Orleans died, which meant Saint George was
Speaker 2: once again without an employer. But during his years in
Speaker 2: the Orleans Fold, Saint George had befriended the Duke's son, Philippe,
Speaker 2: who was now the new Duke. Upon seeing his friend
Speaker 2: without sufficient employment, the new Duke decided to invite Saint
Speaker 2: George to London to meet the Prince of Wales, the
Speaker 2: oldest son of King George the Third future King George
Speaker 2: the Fourth, who had heard word of this superb fencer
Speaker 2: slash violinist Saint George Son George readily agreed, and the
Speaker 2: Duke and Saint George swiftly made their way across the
Speaker 2: Channel to England. But unbeknownst to the Chevalier, Philippe had
Speaker 2: more than one reason that he was bringing the famed
Speaker 2: Chevalier de Saint George to London. This concludes part one
Speaker 2: of our two part series on the incredibly exciting life
Speaker 2: of the Chevalier de Saint George. But stick around after
Speaker 2: a brief sponsor break to hear about another famous classical
Speaker 2: musician who may have known Joseph Blonne, the Chevalier de
Speaker 2: Saint George. For those of you classical music officionados out
Speaker 2: there who may have been putting mental timelines together throughout
Speaker 2: this episode, first I applaud you on your very specific
Speaker 2: historical knowledge, and second will confirm yes, one Wolfgang Amadeus
Speaker 2: Mozart was indeed in Paris at the exact same time
Speaker 2: as Joseph Balone, the Chevalier de Saint George in seventeen
Speaker 2: seventy eight. In fact, between July fifth and September eleventh
Speaker 2: of that year, the two were living under the very
Speaker 2: same roof at the Montessons mansion on the Chasset d'antan.
Speaker 2: Yet unfortunately, despite their proximity, there's actually no i'h written
Speaker 2: a record of the two ever meeting during this time. Still,
Speaker 2: if you want, this is me giving you permission to
Speaker 2: write your own imagined classical music version of that musical
Speaker 2: million dollar quartet. San George actually did happen to meet
Speaker 2: Mozart when he was just ten years old in seventeen
Speaker 2: sixty six, but some scholars theorize Mozart patently did not
Speaker 2: want to meet San George during their stays in Paris
Speaker 2: in seventeen seventy eight because he was envious of his success.
Speaker 2: I will say that Mozart's mother had just died in
Speaker 2: the beginning of July in seventeen seventy eight, so he
Speaker 2: may have just been completely in mourning. In letters from
Speaker 2: Mozart's father, he begs his son to attend a performance
Speaker 2: of the concerd'emtur, but there's no record of Mozart fulfilling
Speaker 2: his father's wishes. We will most likely never know if
Speaker 2: there was a feud between the two legendary musicians or
Speaker 2: some hidden, off the record friendship. You never know, but
Speaker 2: musical historians have long questioned why the villain in Mozart's
Speaker 2: opera The Magic Flute is meant to be portrayed by
Speaker 2: a black man. Could it have been a lingering jealousy
Speaker 2: that fueled his work? Maybe? But I'll end with one
Speaker 2: closing thought. Today, when referencing San George, many call him
Speaker 2: the black Mozart. But when you consider the success that
Speaker 2: Saint George was having in Paris at the time Mozart arrived,
Speaker 2: who is to say that Mozart isn't the white Chevalier
Speaker 2: de Saint George. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio
Speaker 2: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is
Speaker 2: created and hosted by me Dana Schwortz, with additional writing
Speaker 2: and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender,
Speaker 2: and Lori Goodman. The show is edited and produced by
Speaker 2: Noemi Griffin and rima Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh
Speaker 2: Thain and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,