Composer Spotlights: Joseph Bologne and Marianne Martines

​Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745- 1799)

Bologne was born of French and African heritage in the French colony of Guadeloupe to a wealthy planter and the planter’s wife’s African slave.  He is sometimes known as the Black Mozart, as he was a contemporary of Mozart and just as much of a genius.  He was a virtuoso violinist and an accomplished composer.  He composed and published numerous operas, string quartets, concertos, and symphonies in a short span between 1771- 1779.  
Bologna was a multi-talented nobleman.  He was admired and was also gifted at fencing.  He was involved in politics and in the military.  He did have racial discrimination, for example when he was up for the music director of the Paris Opera house, four singers petitioned Marie Antoinette to prevent from having to “submit to the orders of a mulatto.”  He then went on to be the music director for the private theater of Madame de Montesson.
Bologne’s music is genus and brilliant.   You can read more about his life on the web and particular on Wikipedia.  AEO plans on performing his first two symphonies in the following year.  Below are some examples of his music. 

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Marianna Martines (1744- 1812)

Marianna Martines was a well established and renowned  famous harpsichordist, singer and composer.  She was an epicenter of Vienna and gained fame thought Europe.  She lived in an apartment upstairs from Joseph Haydn, who at the time was a struggling composer.  He gave her harpsichord lessons and also accompanied her while she sang.  In exchange for this service, Martines introduced Haydn to well established composers of Vienna, giving him the connection and network to move his career.  

She was an impressive musician who gained royal approval of her musical compositions.  The Empress Maria Theresa was so impressed with her that she performed for the Empress on many occasions and even dedicated works for her.
She was one of the greatest composers of her time.  Women composers where known as anomalies- lone women surrounded by men, however this is not true of the case as even though there were more male composers, she was not unique.  There were other prominent female composers in Vienna.  She did not allow this limitation to strive for her career as a musician and composer.  
Martines’s music is outstanding and works of art.  AEO will be celebrating her in the coming season with a performance of her Symphony in C major.  Below are some of her works that you can viewed on YouTube.