The Bridgetower sonata : sonata mulattica
(Book - Regular Print)

In this vividly imagined historical novel, acclaimed Congolese author Emmanuel Dongala has focused his laser-sharp wit on the life and times of George Bridgetower, a young violin prodigy, who, at the age of nine, took the courtly world of 18th century Europe by storm--and surprise, given the youth's unusual origins: for young George was of mixed- race parentage, known in the parlance of the day as a mulatto. Though his father Augustus was from Barbados and dark-skinned while his mother was a German handmaiden in the Viennese court, this young virtuoso, proclaimed as the "Black Mozart" was welcomed into the high society of Tout-Paris on the eve of the French Revolution, and later, after he and his opportunistic father fled to England, became a court favorite of the Prince of Wales where his fame spread widely across Europe where he eventually arrived in Vienna and became close friends with Ludwig Van Beethoven himself. Brimming with lively detail and dialogue and with cameo appearances from historical figures such as Alexandre Dumas, Camille Desmoulins, and Nicolas de Condorcet.