Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) is considered the first Black composer in the Western classical tradition. The son of a French plantation owner and an African slave, he was born in Guadeloupe and educated in France. His prowess in fencing at school earned him a spot as the king’s bodyguard when he graduated. Where and when he began his musical training has been lost to history, but in 1769 he was playing violin in an orchestra as well as serving as the king’s bodyguard.

He composed large amounts of string music and some operas, though nomenclature of the former works is a vexed question, since the lack of copyright laws caused various publishing houses to publish his works under different names. His opposition to the slave trade caused him to support the French Revolution, during which he briefly headed up a legion of black soldiers, which bore his name. He likely took part in the revolution that turned Saint-Domingue into the modern nation of Haiti.