ARTARIA EDITIONS torial Board ALLAN BADLEY FF EISEN ROBERT HOSKINS » BERTIL VAN BOER JOSEPH BOLOGNE, CHEVALIER DE SAINT-GEORG! Symphony in D, Op.11 No.2 ited by Reuben Blundell ABS6ABSIS JOSEPH BOLOGNE, CHEVALIER DE SAINT-GEORGES Symphony in D, Op. 11 No2 Sources Paris, ibliothéque nationale de France, département ‘Musique, H-202 (A-H): dela Chevarditre (Paris) 1779; Overture to Lanant Anonime Editor - Reuben landell Series Editor ~All Badley "Engraving & Layout~ Promethean Hditons Limited © Artara Eitions Limited 2081 Published by Artaria Editions (Hong Kong) Limited in Hong Kong, ISBN 974-988-4708-46-8 (print) ISBN 978-988-8708-47-5 (digital) ISMN 979-0-405700-84-7FOREWORD Chevalier de Saint-Georges (ca 1745-1799) occupies a ‘unique position as an athlete, violin virtuoso and com- poser, He isthe archetypal romantic hero; spectacularly gift ced and destined always to be the outsider, is life the stuff of legend. ‘The son ofa former councilor in the Parlement at Metz and a slave of Senegalese origin, Joseph Bologne was born near Basse ‘Terre, stale on St Domingue (now Haiti) before hi family finally settled in Paris in around 1749. At the age of thirteen, Saint- Georges became a pupil of 1a Boessiére, a master of arms, and also had riding lessons with Dugast atthe Tuileries. He fought his first public fencing match in Paris with Giuseppe Gianfaldoni on & September 1766 and although he lost his ‘opponent predicted that he would become the finest swords- ‘man in Europe. (OF his musical education we know very lite. In old ac- ‘counts of his life itis claimed that he had lessons with Paton, his father’s plantation manager on St Domingue, and it has also been suggested that he studied the violin with Leclair and composition with Gossec in France. In view of his long professional association with Gossec itis quite likely that he received a good deal of advice from him in his early career and this may have extended to instruction in composition [As the si years he spent in La Boéssitr’s establishment were devoted exclusively to physical training and academic studies, it s assumed thatthe bulk of Saint-Georges’ musical educa- tion took place between 1738 and 176s, the year of hie first professional engagement, asa violinist in Gosse’s Concert des Amateurs. He made his public début as a soloist with I an age of remarkable individuals Joseph Bologne, uadeloupe, and lived for sometime on an the Concert des Amateurs in 1772, performing his two vio- lin concertos Op.a, When Gossee became a director of the Concert Spiritucl in 3773, Saint-Georges succeeded him as musical director and leader of the Amateurs which, under his leadership, quickly won recognition as one of the finest orchestras in Prance In 1777 Saint-Geonges made his début as an opera com- poser with Emestineat the Comédie-alienne. As is the case ‘with many composers, the dramatic flair that served him so well in instrumental music proved largely unsuited to the theatre. The premiere was a fiasco and the work received only a single performance, The fault was not entirely Saint- Georges’ own, but even his popularity as a composer of in- strumental music and his gift for writing attractive and en- gaging music could In the course of the same year he became affliated with he 1 save the work from instant oblivion, private theatre and concerts of Mme de Montesson, the se- cret, unacknowledged wife of the Duke of Orleans, Utilising Saint-Georges other talents, the duike put him in charge of his hunting retinue at his seat in Le Raincy. Aer the disbanding of the Amateurs in January 1781, probably due to financial problems, Saint-Georges founded the Concert de la Loge Olympique, the orchestra for whom Count d’Ogay later commissioned Haydn to compose bis brilliant set of six ‘Paris’ symphonies. On the death of the Duke of Orleans in 1785, Saint-Georges lost his position in the household and visited London where he gave exhibition fencing matches at Angel's Academy. He returned to Paris in 1787, composed a moderately successful comedy, La fille _garcon, and resumed work with the Loge Olympique. ‘Within six months ofthe outbreak of the Revolution, the Loge Olympique was dissolved and Saint-Georges returned to England in the company of the young Duke of Orleans, Philippe-Fgalité. Once again, Saint-Georges supported him- self by giving fencing matches in London and, on this occa sion, also in Brighton where he fought before the Prince of ‘Wales. He returned to Paris in 17s0 but finding the state of af- fairs unsatisfactory undertooka tour of northern France ith the actress Louise Fusil and a horn player, Lamothe. He took vp oficial residence in Lill in 1792 where he became captain of the National Guard. In his deste to take a more active part in the Revolution, Saint-Georges formed a corps of light troops in the summer of 1752 which was planned eventually to comprise 1000 men. Known as the Légion Nationale du Midi, the comps enjoyed litle military succes, Saint-Georges ‘was relieved of his command, imprisoned for 18 months, and com his release forbidden to live near his former comrades. Unemployed again, Saint-Georges led a vagabond ex- istence with Lamothe and lived for atime on St Domingue. Around 1797 he returned to Paris where he served briefly as a director of a new musical organization, the Cercle de Harmonie, based in the former residence of the Orleans family, He died in Paris in June 1799. By the standards of the age, aint-Georges was nota pro- lfc composer but this i perhaps hardly surprising given the extraordinary range of his activites. The majority of his in- strumental works were published in Pavis between 1772 and AIG1779 and include string quartets, violin concertos and sym: phonies concertantes. That the violin dominates all these works is understandable given Saint-Georges’ prowess on the instrument, The violin concertos, which he presum- ably composed for his own use, make extensive use of high positions and require great agility in string crossing and, double-stopping, frequently in fast tempos. His friend the actress Louise Fusil wrote that “the expressivity of his per- formance was his principal merit” and indeed there is far ‘more to his concertos than mere virtuosic display. They are well written works, rch in melodic invention and display ing at times a striking degeee of originality. Saint-Georges typically published these works in pairs with one concerto scored for strings alone and the other including a modest wind section, 1 1760s and 1770s Paris, Saint-Georges was surround- ced by symphonists, such as his mentor Jean-Francois jassee and friend Simon Leduc. Orchestral concerts featured symphonies by local composers, by Mannheim. symphonists such as Carl Stamitz and Christian Cannabich, and by visitors, including Mozart, whose 1778 visit included, a warm reception for his ‘Pais’ symphony. Saint-Georges also played or conducted most of the Paris premieres of Haydn's symphonies in the 1770s and 1780s which gave hhim direct experience of the most progressive works in the genre. In spite of being at the very centre of allthis activity, Saint- Georges seems not to have been particularly interest ced in composing symphonies. His only extant works in the ‘genre are the two works published as Opt which are excel~ lent examples ofthe cosmopolitan French symphonic style, ‘The frst, in G major, has the effervescence of a Haydn symphony and its unusual off-beat shythmic patterns in the first movement's opening subject create an interest ing antiphonal effect between violin sections. The second subject's step-wise shape and lyricism is interrupted by 0c- tave leaps which serve to animate the musi, The apparent naiveté of the second movement belies its inventive layer- ing of accompanying lines while the finale’ bright open- ing sets up its energetic dynamic contrasts, with horns and. ‘oboes reinforcing its rustic louder sections, ‘The sympho- ny’sthree-movement structure serves asa timely reminder that the four-movement form, although widely employed across Europe, did not hold universal sway that this time. ‘The second symphony has a charmingly lively first movement, with a Haydnesque Sturm und Drang devel- ‘opment section. Its central Andante movement echoes the contrapuntal writing of late French Baroque or early classical composers such as Antoine Dorel (1691-1754). The bustling third movement features a central minor section, with a second-violin quaver figure running beneath the sinu- fous theme, Interestingly, this central section evokes a similar ‘passage from his friend Leduc’s third symphony: Leduc passed away in January 1777, and Saint-Georges programmed that symphony the very next month, It is tempting to imagine Saint-Georges' forays into symphonic writing being inspired by his friendship with Leduc and the other Parisian symphon- ists, Saint-Goorges later used this second symphony as the ‘overture to his 780 opera, 'amant Anonime (The Anonymous Lover). While the Op. symphonies are both preserved in en graved parts dating from 1775, the 1780 manuscript score from the opera is more accurate and is in every respect the superior source, In the finale, the engraved parts have a simplified be- ginning: the ditional notes have been added, ‘The two symphonies Op.ar were published in Paris by La ‘Chevarditre in 1779. According to the title page of, the sym~ ‘phonies were composed for performance by the Concerts des Amateurs: (DEUX / SINFONIES / A plusiers Instruments / COMPOSEES | Par Mr. De George / Bt Exzcutés au Concert de M? les Amateurs’ La Chevarditre'’s edition is mostly reliable, with the exception of some careless articulations, inconsistent «dynamics across parts, and occasional engraving errors. ‘The ‘overture version’ of Opait Noa is found in a MS. score of the work preserved in Paris in the Bibliotheque na- tionale de France. The ttle page ofthe opera reads: UAMANT J ANONIME / COMEDIE EN DEUX ACTES | MELEE DE BALLETS / REPRESENTIEE A PARIS / LE 8 MARS 1780 / LA MUSIQUE DE M, / DE $+ GEORGE? The score of the over- ture not only provided a useful guide where errors had been introduced in the engraved parts, but also a yardstick for mak- ing editorial decisions in Op.11 No.l. Like many cighteenth- ‘century sets of printed parts, La Chevarditre’s edition con- tains numerous textual inconsistences in matters of dynamic placements, articulations and phrase markings. In seeking to present an edition that come as close as possible to reflecting ‘the composer's probable intentions, obvious wrong notes have ‘been corrected without comment while other editorial emen- dations, whether applied from parallel passages or without direct textural authority are signalled variously by the use of| dotted slurs and brackets, Allan Badley Reuben Blundell AIG —ivSYMPHONY IN D, OP.11 NO.2 Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges Allegro Presto109 sal = ‘ime