{"id":25890,"date":"2023-04-06T09:30:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T07:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=150327"},"modified":"2023-04-06T10:35:49","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T08:35:49","slug":"chevalier-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-black-mozart-biopic-the-story-of-joseph-bologne-chevalier-de-saint-georges","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/chevalier-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-black-mozart-biopic-the-story-of-joseph-bologne-chevalier-de-saint-georges\/","title":{"rendered":"Chevalier: all you need to know about the \u2018Black Mozart\u2019 biopic, the story of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges"},"content":{"rendered":"

The swordsman with an incredible aptitude for composing, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges is brought to life in a new biopic <\/p>

By BBC Music Magazine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 06 April 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

A new film about the inimitable Baroque composer, violinist and fencer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges<\/a><\/strong> is coming to our screens in summer 2023, in a new production from Searchlight Pictures.<\/p>\n

The Baroque composer and violinist Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges has been hailed as the \u2018Black Mozart\u2019, a nickname that has often attracted controversy. Although the two were contemporaries and knew one another, there\u2019s little to suggest that Bologne remained in Mozart<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s shadow for too long \u2013 and in several instances, it appears that Mozart may have borrowed Bologne\u2019s material<\/strong><\/a> in some of his own writing.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Who was Joseph de Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges?<\/h2>\n<p>Born in Guadeloupe to a French colonial plantation owner and a young Senegalese slave, Bologne was taken to Paris at a young age to gain an education. His fencing skills helped advance him up the social ladders, and he later assumed the title Chevalier de Saint-Georges. As well as an aptitude for swordsmanship, Bologne was a skilled composer and violinist. Not for nothing did American President John Adams once call him \u2018the most talented man in Europe.\u2019<\/p>\n<ul><li><strong><a href=\""..\/features\/articles\/10-best-films-made-about-composers\/"\">10 of the best (and worst) films about composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2018Like <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/classicalmusic.production.wcp.imdserve.com\/composers\/antonio-vivaldi\/"\">Vivaldi<\/a><\/strong> or <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/classicalmusic.production.wcp.imdserve.com\/composers\/niccolo-paganini\/"\">Paganini<\/a><\/strong>, Bologne was a composer-executant\u00a0<em>par excellence\u00a0<\/em>who knew his instrument inside out \u2013 and, fencer to his fingertips, was fearless, lunging ever higher into a stratosphere never attempted by Mozart,\u2019 wrote Paul Riley for\u00a0<em>BBC Music Magazine.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>What is the plot of <em>Chevalier<\/em>?<\/h2>\n<p>The film is set in 18th-century France, and follows the soaring rise and defiant spirit of the musical phenomenon, Joseph Bologne, aka the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Not just a virtuoso violinist, Bologne was also a talented composer, a champion swordsman and, for a while, one of the most alluring members of the glittering court of Marie Antoinette.<\/p>\n<p>However, the film shows that Bologne\u2019s irresistible rise (and the colour of his skin) also make him enemies in high society. The court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette may have been a glittering one but, socially, it was also a conservative place.<\/p>\n<ul><li><strong><a class=\""standard-card-new__article-title\" qa-card-link=\"\" href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/six-best-classical-music-film-cameos\/"\">Six of the best: classical music film cameos<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><h2>Who has written the screenplay?<\/h2>\n<p>The biopic, <em>Chevalier<\/em>, will be the feature screenwriting debut from Stefani Robinson, the writer of TV shows <em>Atlanta\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>What We Do in the Shadows<\/em>, both of which she received Emmy nominations for. She is the first black woman in Emmy history to be recognised for multiple nominations in both the Outstanding Comedy category and in Comedy Writing.<\/p>\n<h2>And who has directed <em>Chevalier<\/em>?<\/h2>\n<p>The project will be directed by Jamaican-Canadian director Stephen Williams, who was behind the recent hit TV series <em>Watchmen<\/em>,<em> The Walking Dead <\/em>and <em>Westworld. <\/em>He was also a co-executive producer on the ABC series <em>Lost.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The film will be funded and distributed by Searchlight Pictures, which is owned by Disney.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Who\u2019s starring in the Chevalier de Saint-Georges biopic?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges is played in the film by Kelvin Harrison Jr. (<i>Waves, Cyrano<\/i>), who was most recently seen in Baz Luhrmann\u2019s <i>Elvis. <\/i>The cast also features Minnie Driver, Lucy Boynton, Samara Weaving and Sian Clifford.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the name of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges biopic?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The biopic has been titled <em>Chevalier<\/em> after its protagonist Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>When will Joseph Bologne\u2019s biopic be released?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><em>Chevalier<\/em> will be released in UK cinemas on 9 June, 2023. This year is shaping up to be a bumper year for classical music cinema: we\u2019ve also had <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/tv-and-film-music\/tar-cate-blanchett-on-portraying-a-conductor-in-new-psychodrama\/"\"><em><strong>T\u00e1r<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, in which Cate Blanchett portrayed a powerful but unstable conductor. And the Leonard Bernstein biopic <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/everything-we-know-about-bradley-coopers-new-bernstein-biopic-coming-to-netflix\/"\"><em><strong>Maestro<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, starring Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan, is also set for release on Netflix this year.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also a film on the way in which Angelina Jolie will play the incomparable opera singer, <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/maria-callas-soprano\/"\"><strong>Maria Callas<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul><li><a class=\""standard-card-new__article-title\" qa-card-link=\"\" href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/20-greatest-sopranos-all-time\/"\"><strong>The 20 greatest sopranos of all time<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> The swordsman with an incredible aptitude for composing, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges is brought to life in a new biopic <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25891,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/chevalier-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-black-mozart-biopic-the-story-of-joseph-bologne-chevalier-de-saint-georges.jpg",1553,2215,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/chevalier-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-black-mozart-biopic-the-story-of-joseph-bologne-chevalier-de-saint-georges-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/chevalier-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-black-mozart-biopic-the-story-of-joseph-bologne-chevalier-de-saint-georges-210x300.jpg",210,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/chevalier-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-black-mozart-biopic-the-story-of-joseph-bologne-chevalier-de-saint-georges-768x1095.jpg",768,1095,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/chevalier-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-black-mozart-biopic-the-story-of-joseph-bologne-chevalier-de-saint-georges-718x1024.jpg",718,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/chevalier-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-black-mozart-biopic-the-story-of-joseph-bologne-chevalier-de-saint-georges-1077x1536.jpg",1077,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/chevalier-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-black-mozart-biopic-the-story-of-joseph-bologne-chevalier-de-saint-georges-1436x2048.jpg",1436,2048,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The swordsman with an incredible aptitude for composing, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges is brought to life in a new biopic","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25890"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}