Joseph Boulogne may have lived during the time of the French Revolution, but he was very much a Renaissance man when it came to the arts. An accomplished violinist, conductor, and composer, he also excelled in fencing, athleticism and dancing.
Over the course of his life, Boulogne composed two symphonies, 12 concertos, eight symphony-concerstantes, and six opera comiques. Of those operas, only one—1780’sPortions of it will be performed by The H-Town Orchestra & Opera Company on December 28 at the SHAPE Community Center. The performance is sponsored by the Community Music Center of Houston.
Why we don’t know more about Joseph Bolougne and his work can likely be traced to a simple fact: Bolougne was biracial, born to a white French plantation owner and his teenaged Black slave. “He was actually older than Mozart, but his music came first and was more elaborate. Since it’s around the same time, their music is similar. Very emotional and very structured” he explains. “So just to make it simpler he’s called ‘The Black Mozart.’”
The complete list of performers for this show are: Dr. Jan Taylor , Jonathan Griffin and Jason Ashley , Anne Lundy , and Kareem Goode . The rotating vocalists are Arty Whittenberg, April Wheat, Vivian Mosley andis Boulogne’s only surviving complete opera. Of the other five, some have been lost forever while others have fragments existing. But Mosley doesn’t give up hope that more is out there.