Sonata Mulattica

Sonata Mulattica

A footnote in musical history takes center stage in a new documentary based on the latest book by Pulitzer Prize winner and former Poet Laureate Rita Dove.  Born to a Polish-German mother and an Afro-Caribbean man who claimed to be an African prince, George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower was a child prodigy violinist. He electrified early 19th Century Europe, traveling across the continent playing before royal courts and riveted audiences.

His natural gift won over kings and queens, cutting across the boundaries of class, race, and culture. When he first played in Paris at the age of nine, the local music journal declared, "his talent is one of the best replies one can give to philosophers who wish to deprive people of his nation and his colour of the opportunity to distinguish themselves in the arts."

In 1803, the young Bridgetower met classical music's latest master, Ludwig van Beethoven, and the two struck up a fast friendship. Inspired by the violinist, Beethoven composed one of his greatest sonatas, Violin Sonata #9, which the two performed together before an audience that included the Austrian royalty.  Bridgetower's performance of the sonata was so astonishing that Beethoven stopped playing and ran across the stage to embrace the violinist before returning to the piano and continuing the recital.

Originally the piece was called 'Sonata per uno mulaticco lunattico,' but unfortunately Beethoven and Bridgetower's friendship crumbled over a woman, and Sonata #9 has since been known as 'the Kreutzer Sonata,' named after French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer, who ironically never performed the piece and thought it was unplayable when he saw the sheet music.  Though his name has been largely absent in the annals of music history, Bridgetower's influence on Beethoven cannot be ignored at this crucial period in the mercurial maestro's career.

Rita Dove's Sonata Mulattica recounts this story creatively through a lyrical narrative of moving poems and a one-act play.  Spark Media, collaborating with Dove, will adapt these evocative compositions into film and innovatively interweave the historic and contemporary narratives to bring to audiences one of the great unknown stories of music history.  


Release Date: 2011