Two centuries ago the violinist George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower, son of a white mother and a self-styled “African prince,” rose to his fifteen minutes of fame. He might have become one of the most revered musical virtuosos of all time . . . had he not crossed swords with his mercurial mentor, Ludwig van Beethoven. What’s known today as the Kreutzer Sonata was originally dedicated to Beethoven’s new “mulatto” friend, who premiered it in Vienna to wide acclaim, the ink barely dry on the composer’s pages. So far, so good; but oh, if only George—all but twenty-three years of age—had shown better judgment and not blatantly ogled the object of Ludwig’s affections!
This great cautionary anecdote is true. My tale is woven from historical events just as surely as the incidental details have been subjected to literary imagination. All the principal players once lived real lives—Mad King George and his spendthrift son “Prinny,” court lady Charlotte Papendiek and Miklós the Magnificent, “Papa” Haydn and Emperor Napoleon, concert impresario Johann Salomon and street fiddler Black Billy Waters. Even Thomas Jefferson makes a cameo appearance, attending (as the record shows) a Bridgetower concert in Paris mere months before the French Revolution erupts. Little George was nine at the time; as for Sally Hemings being in the audience . . . well, here I claim poetic license.
—Rita Dove
Charlottesville, Virginia
Fourth of July, 2008