Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint George: Symphonie Concertante in C major, Op.6 No.1

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George - Symphonie Concertante for two violins in C major, Op 6 No.1, Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, Jirí Zilák and Miroslav Vilímec (violins), Jiří Malát (conductor) 1. Allegro moderato et Andante – 00:00 2. Rondeau – 09:50 Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (December 25, 1745 – June 10, 1799) was a champion fencer, classical composer, virtuoso violinist, and conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris. „An unusual destiny: born a slave, educated as a nobleman. Joseph came into the world at Baillif, in Guadeloupe, born of the adulterous relationship between a rich planter, Georges de Bologne, and a Black slave named Anne, but known as "Nanon". Enfranchised by his father, he arrived in France in August 1753. In October 1759 he entered the fencing academy of the master of arms Nicolas Texier de La Boëssière, an elite boarding school for the sons of the nobility. The destiny of this young mulatto was a strange one: although his education had inculcated into him the social practices of the aristocracy, for whom music was regarded merely as a form of entertainment, it was to that very art that he devoted himself with passion. It was his music that fascinated his contemporaries. We know little about his musical education. He may have studied the violin with Jean-Marie Leclair, and he learned composition with Gossec, who as a tribute to his pupil dedicated to him in 1766 his Six Trios Opus 9 (Antonio Lolli composed two concertos, Op. 2, for him, too). Admired as a violinist, conductor and composer, in 1773 Saint-George succeeded Gossec as conductor of the Concert des Amateurs and published his first two violin concertos (Opus 2, Nos. 1 and 2), which he himself had performed with the same Concert des Amateurs the previous winter. Saint-Georges wrote string quartets, three forte-piano and violin sonatas, a sonata for harp and flute, and six violin duos, violin concertos, a concerto for clarinet, and one for bassoon, six opéras comiques and a number of songs in manuscript, symphonies and symphonie-concertantes, a new, intrinsically Parisian genre of which he was one of the chief exponents. The symphony No.1, C major, begins with a generous Tutti based on two well-differentiated motifs. asserting the key. The one, lively (in C major), uses Vorhalt, a procedure developed by the Mannheim School and found frequently in Saint-George. It produces an impression of painful or solemn insistence. The other (in G major) is more flowing and melodic. Solo 1 is superb: the first principal violin brilliantly states an expressive new theme, beginning in long values and, joined shortly by the second violin, it becomes increasingly virtuosic. We also admire the dialogues between the orchestra (or the soloists) and the wind instruments, the powerful crescendos underlining the articulations, the boldness of the last Solo with its clashing contrasts, the finesse of the motivic exchanges between the soloists, the moving modulation to A minor, and the short but delightfully expressive Andante. In his symphonies concertantes Saint-George complies with the vogue around 1770 of using rondo form for the last movement. Gossec was clearly his model but, as in his quartets and concertos, Saint-George undoubtedly left his own personal stamp. The main features of the recurring section, or Refrain, are light, lively, attractive themes with a folk flavour, clear (periodic) articulation and rhythmic stresses, varied expression — contrasting dynamics, registers (with themes repeated an octave higher or lower) and modes (major /minor) — virtuosity from the soloists and dynamic crescendos. We note the gentleness of the dialogue between the soloists (often a third apart) in the first contrasting Episode (in C major), and the sadness expressed in the second one (in C minor)”. (from album booklet)