Monsieur de Saint-George : Virtuoso, Swordsman, Revolutionary: A Legendary Life Rediscovered

Rating:
Summary: Black Mozart, Musketeer; great book
Review: I found this book on a bookstore's shelf. It engaged me so much that rather than wait to get home and order cheaper on-line, I paid $26 and read it straight through. Readers interested in this subject will also want to look-up the out-of-print biography of Gen. Alexander Dumas (father of the famous author). Like St George, Dumas was born in the French colonies to a slave mother and a white plantation owner who brought him as a child to France for a gentleman's education. St. George was about 20 years older than Dumas, and became Dumas' mentor when the teenage Dumas won a place at fencing school where St. George reigned as the world's greatest swordsman, a distinction that would (arguably) pass to the young Dumas. St. George also made Dumas into a revolutionary officer. But whereas Col. George was arrested for opposing revolutionary excesses, Lt. Col. Dumas rose to the rank of General. I highly recommend reading both biographies. Guende's bio of St. Georges explicitly corrects portions of the Dumas bio, which was published at least ten years before the St. Georges bio. I purchased the Gen. Dumas bio about a year ago via amazon out-of-print service, but I just searched for it, and it didn't appear. One of many memorable highlights of the St. Georges bio is the story of him sword-dueling in London with his rival fenser, who was a cross-dresser forced to wear a dress (even in the duel!) to support his alabi covering his parernity of Britain's crown prince (who sponsored the match). I can't imagine a more fascinating biography.

Rating:
Summary: An enthralling life story
Review: Monsieur De Saint-George: Virtuoso, Swordsman, Revolutionary is the amazing biography of Joseph Boulogne de Saint-George, the son of a slave mother and a gentleman father and the trail he blazed through eighteenth-century aristocratic circles to become one of the greatest of the French composers. Also known for his talented violin playing, his superb swordsmanship, and his passionate hope for a future that would promote equal rights for human beings regardless of color. An enthralling life story which was definitely researched and superbly written by biographer Alain Guede, Monsieur De Saint-George is a quite significant contribution to Black Studies and Music History collections.

Rating:
Summary: This is not a Biography
Review: Mr. Guede's book is about a wonderful charactor, but the scholarship is poor. He uses footnotes, but they are to other works of fiction. He spends much time talking about the family of St.-Georges' father, without checking the very clear and obtainable documents that prove he is another man entirely. This is important because St.-Georges made his way in Parisian society on his own, not as son of a wealthy minister. Gede says he was called "Chevalier" by his father, when his apointment by Louis XV to the Gendarme du Roi made him a Chevalier automatically. It was an honor he earned.
It takes nerve to write a biography of a musician without even an elemental knowledge of music. For example the author writes: "Gossec named him (St.-Georges) first violin and time keeper. " The author then goes on to say the first violin (concertmaster) stands up in performances, and that as timekeeper he uses his baton to set the tempo in rehearsals, being preferred to a metronome. What is the conductor suposed to be doing?
Finally, the author inserts gratuitous racial remarks such as: "the thick layers of powder he used to hide the color of his skin", or Plato, his (fictional) violin teacher saying "Follow the score or you will always play like a Negro", or "Voltaire would not defend a Negro unless he was attacked by a Jew"
St.-Georges deserves a better writer.