“Everything changes when you start to emit your own frequency rather than absorbing the frequencies around you, when you start imprinting your intent on the universe rather than receiving an imprint from existence.”
Hell, I’d be hype for this even if it weren’t a true story!
For people who don’t know who the Chevalier St George was:
- he was the son of a french aristocrat and an enslaved Senegalese woman called Nanon
- he actually had a relationship with his mother, which was pretty usual for children in his situation. I haven’t been able to establish whether she was later freed or not, but I think she was because she left a will, suggesting she owned property
- his father legally wasn’t allowed to make him his heir because of racist laws at the time, but he acknoledged him as his son and gave him a rich person’s education and opportunities
- he was one of, if not the, greatest violinists of his generation, played first violin for the Paris opera and was violin teacher to the queen before the revolution
- he was in line to be composer and director of the opera but a famous dancer who was pissed off he didn’t want a relationship with her started a petition to get his appointment blocked
- he knew Haydn and commissioned the Paris Symphonies from him
- Mozart’s father tried to make him go and see St George perform because he thought it would be good for his musical education but Mozart was (it is speculated) jealous of there being another young music prodigy, and refused to go
- he was ridiculously handsome . Look at this, my guy is pulling off a powdered wig, do you know how hard it is to look good in a powdered wig?!
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- he was considered one of the greatest duelists and swordsmen in france
- he fought a duel with the Chevalier D'eon, who at the time was living as a woman (we have no idea if D'eon was afab or amab but they made their reputation as a man and then later switched to presenting as a woman)
- he wrote incredible concertos and unbelievably terrible operas. The longest any of his opera’s ever ran before being shut down was a couple of weeks. Some one lasted 1 night. He kept writing them.
- he joined the revolutionaries to otherthrow the king because they (falsely) promised to abolish slavery and emancipate all enslaved people
- he was a fantastically successful soldier and lead the first all black regiment in europe, which came to be known as the regiment st George in his honour
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He’s legitimately one of the most interesting figures in french history, and certainly one of the most romantic, and I’m so glad he might finally be getting the recognition he deserves!
I completely agree that he’s a incredible historical figure and I’m so excited that he’s (finally!!) getting a movie! And it looks so good!
That said, there’s a really important point here I want to correct:
- he joined the revolutionaries to otherthrow the king because they (falsely) promised to abolish slavery and emancipate all enslaved people
The French Republic did legally abolish slavery, in France and all French colonies, in 1794. The law of February 4 1794 is simple and direct:
The National Convention declares slavery abolished throughout all the colonies: consequently, it decrees that all men, without distinction of color, domiciliated in the colonies, are French citizens, and entitled to the enjoyment of all the rights secured by the Constitution. Referred to the Committee of Public Safety for it to report immediately on the measures to be taken for the execution of the decree.
However, and it is a considerable however, the decree was really only put into effect within France and a few colonies (Saint Domingue, Guyana, Guadaloupe). Implementation in those colonies was complicated, and in other colonies it was effectively never enacted, but it was legally abolished and there were efforts to enact that abolition.
,,And then in 1802, acting not in the name of the Republic but as the leader of the Directoire government, Napoleon reinstated slavery in French colonies. But within France itself, slavery remained illegal.
I’m absolutely not saying this to glorify the First Republic–abolition was never the priority it should have been for them, as seen by the limited effect of the changing law. They were really only driven to action , as a governing body, by a combination of slave revolts in the colonies and intense activism by Black activists But it did happen, largely as a result of work by Black speakers and activists, along with the revolutionaries in the colonies, and their efforts, and success, however brief and limited, are worth noting.
To return this to the Chevalier Saint Georges: he absolutely played a role in abolition, and I hope the movie will spend at least some time on that. because he was fantastic.
this post is not about love or isolation or anything like that. this post is about how if you email your professors they will give you extensions on assignments, and if you do not email your professors they will not give you extensions on assignments. but it can be about those other things too
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