Beethoven then dedicated his Violin Sonata No. In 1803, virtuoso violinist George Bridgetower, who had studied under the leader of the Royal Opera, played with Beethoven. After Napoleon re-instituted slavery in France, de Saint-Georges' works were rarely played, though lots of his work has been recorded since the 1970's. In the mid-to-late 1700's, Chevalier de Saint-Georges was an Afro-French composer who was also France’s best fencer. By the way, these entries were originally part of an episode of the Classical Classroom podcast (audio included below). We’ve collected our twenty-eight February entries in this article. Each day during February, we posted a “Classical Music Moment in Black History” on our Facebook page to show the contributions of black artists to classical music throughout history.
