Rethinking “The Black Mozart”: “It”-ification, Mythification and Canonization
This thesis explores the implications of the moniker “Le Mozart Noir” or “The Black Mozart” given to Joseph Bologne, le Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Saint-Georges (1745-1799) was the son of a French nobleman and a slave, born in the Caribbean, who later became a prominent violinist, composer and conductor in Paris. Despite the attention he gained for his music during his lifetime, Saint-Georges remains on the periphery of music history and known only as “The Black Mozart.” Saint-Georges and Mozart were contemporaries who lived and worked in Paris, but Mozart and his music have both found their way into the canon while Saint-Georges’s has not. Chapter 1 focuses on approaching the name “Black Mozart” through Martin Buber’s philosophical framework of I-It and I-Thou to highlight why the name “Black Mozart” is problematic. Chapter 2 focuses on the 20th-century belief that Beethoven was black and how that affects the reception of composers like Saint-Georges. Chapter 3 turns its attention to the musical canon, namely how it was formed over time and why it includes just a small number of white, male composers who are seen as divinely-inspired geniuses at the expense of black composers like Saint-Georges.
Advisers/Committee
