Black composer's life was the swashbuckling stuff that Hollywood dreams are made of

Soon to be a major motion picture.

No, not the production that Minnesota Opera will premiere Saturday as it returns to live performances at Ordway Music Theater after two years. We're talking about the fascinating life of the composer who created that opera, Joseph Bologne, aka "The Chevalier de St.-Georges."

Born the son of a slave on a Caribbean island, he became one of France's most celebrated citizens in the second half of the 18th century. He was a master swordsman, a brilliant musician and a figure in the French Revolution.

It's his musicianship that brings Bologne our way this week, as Minnesota Opera presents his only surviving complete opera, "The Anonymous Lover." It's a rom-com with a plot that's a fine fit for Bologne's bright and vivacious musical style, which has a lot in common with his contemporaries Mozart and Joseph Haydn, both of whom he knew.

But please don't call him "the Black Mozart," as some writers have. For one thing, Bologne was much more popular and successful during his lifetime than was Mozart, though his renown stemmed far more from his skills as a violinist and music director (and fencer) than as a composer.

Alas, his music mostly faded from earshot until a recent revival of interest sparked by classical music presenters seeking to bring more racial equity to their programming.

"Musicologists, and the musical world in general, ignored Joseph Bologne until the riots after the murder of George Floyd," said University of Minnesota music professor Karen Painter. "To this day, most of what you find about Bologne is by amateur fans, not trained scholars. I hope that universities and music schools around the country, including my own, rethink how music history is taught. As scholars correct the past injustice, maybe we should call Mozart 'the White Bologne.' "

And what a story they have to tell. It could be a swashbuckler full of wonderful music, swordfights, cameos by major historical figures, conflicts rooted in racial tension, political intrigue and a revolution.

It could start on the Caribbean island of Guadaloupe, the French colony where Bologne was born, his father a wealthy white landowner, his mother a slave born in Senegal. But soon we'd be off to France, where Joseph and his mother moved with his father, George Bologne, along with Bologne the elder's wife and older daughter.

It certainly was an atypical arrangement for 1759, especially when young Joseph was enrolled in schools favored by the aristocracy.

Joseph Bologne maintained that he was born on Christmas Day of 1748, so he was but 10 upon arriving in France. Yet his fencing skills were already evidently something to write home about. In fact, some of his classmates did, leaving their admiration to the historical record.

While it's unclear who started him on the violin, he was reportedly a natural, with prominent French composers writing concertos for him by the time he was 16.

"We've played both of his symphonies now, and particularly enjoyed playing the second one earlier this season," said St. Paul Chamber Orchestra violinist and artistic director Kyu-Young Kim. "It's effervescent and charming, and we enjoyed imagining what a virtuoso like Bologne must have done to ornament the slow movement.

"It's clear from his violin concertos and his duos that he was a formidable violinist and charismatic performer, and it is no wonder that he earned the respect and admiration of Mozart and Haydn on their trips to Paris."

Bologne's next career step might have been artistic director of the Paris Opera's Royal Academy of Music, but two of the company's star sopranos torpedoed his candidacy, saying they would refuse to work for a "mulatto." But he found his way into the opera house as a composer. His first one, "Ernestine," closed after one performance, but "The Anonymous Lover" found some success a year later.

In 1781, he founded an even larger Parisian orchestra, the Concert de la Loge Olympique, an ensemble known not only for its outstanding playing but its flamboyant attire, the musicians festooned in bright blue dress coats with lace ruffles, swords on their hips. The queen, Marie Antoinette, was a big fan, even enlisting Bologne for music lessons.

It was with this group that Bologne tightened a bond with Haydn, visiting the composer in Austria and commissioning the six "Paris" symphonies that Bologne's orchestra premiered.

But his idealism seemingly faded when faced with segregation within the army. As a colonel, he was the leader of a corps consisting entirely of men of color. And the bloodlust of the new French government evidently didn't sit well with him. Soon he was denounced for "unrevolutionary behavior," relieved of his command and imprisoned for 18 months, somehow avoiding the guillotine.

Upon his release, his disillusionment grew on a journey back to the Caribbean of his youth. The island of St. Domingue — today, the home of Haiti and the Dominican Republic — was embroiled in a civil war centered upon the issue of reintroducing slavery. His return to France brought music making of a far lower profile than his career peak, mostly small provincial tours performing chamber music. He contracted a bladder disease and died in 1799 at age 50.

"Bologne's music is gorgeous," said Lee Bynum, Minnesota Opera's vice president of impact. " 'The Anonymous Lover' accords Minnesota Opera an opportunity to present a Black composer's work that is marked by joy, something audiences have been craving."

Here's hoping that the opera is as intriguing as the life of the man who wrote it.

'The Anonymous Lover'
Who: Composed by Joseph Bologne. Conducted by Christopher Franklin. Directed by Maria Todaro.
When: 7:30 p.m. Sat., Feb. 10 & Feb. 12; 2 p.m. Feb. 13.
Where: Ordway Music Theater, 345 Washington St., St. Paul.
Tickets: $25-$225, 612-333-6669 or mnopera.org