Portrait of Bridgetower of Henry Eldridge's Hand, 1790
George Polgreen Augustus Bridgetower (February 29, 1780 - February 20, 1860) was a Polish violinist of African origin.
YouthHe was the son of a West Indian servant of Hungarian Esterhazy (the lord of Joseph Haydn) and a Polish servant. As a child, he showed great talent for music. In 1789 he gave a concert in England, where he drew attention to the Prince Regent (later King George IV of the United Kingdom), who then worried about his further musical education. He played for some time in an orchestra of the Prince Regent and developed into violin virtuoso. In 1803 he made a concert trip to Vienna, where he met Ludwig van Beethoven. Kreutzer Sonata
Beethoven was so impressed with Bridgetower's talent that he wore him his famous violin sonate No. 9 in A major, with the words "Uno Mulattico Lunatico" ("Astonishing Mule"). After Beethoven and Bridgetower had played this sonate together, they got argue because Bridgetower made a shame about a woman who was Beethoven dear. The light-headed genius broke down all contacts with Bridgetower and then carried his sonate to the man who became known as Europe's biggest violin virtuoso, Rudolphe Kreutzer.
After killing the score, Kreutzer stated that the piece would be "unplayable". He never played the sonate in public. It's a pity that Beethoven and Bridgetower have been fighting because Bridgetower was obviously very capable of playing this sonata, which in the future would not be the "Bridgetowersonate" but "Kreutzersonate". Back to England
Bridgetower lived in Austria for some time before returning to England. There he married and continued his music studies. He also gave music lessons and played in the orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society. Compositions
Bridgetower also composed a number of own works. A list of his compositions can be found in an article by Dominique-René de Lerma in the "Black Music Research Journal", Vol. 10, No. 2, autumn 1990.
One of his works is Diatonica Armonica for Piano, published in London in 1812. An unpopulated composition, also released in London, is Henry: A ballad, for medium voice and piano.
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