The HARVARD CLUB welcomes Gabriel Banat
On November 7th, 2007 Gabriel Banat, eminent contributor to the rediscovery of the Chevalier de Saint-George, will present his latest findings on this legendary icon of the 18th-Century.
program
A brilliant violinist himself, Gabriel Banat is the ideal biographer of Saint-Georges. Born in Hungary and encouraged by Bartók, Banat spent most of World War II in hiding from the Nazis. After the war, he performed with Enesco and others, becoming a member of the New York Philharmonic in 1970. His new biography, Virtuoso of the Sword and the Bow, was called a “must read” by Today’s Books. Robert Gutman described it as “the first truly reliable account of the dazzling career of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges … a page-turner … beautifully written.”
October 15th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
GABRIEL BANAT ON THE CHEVALIER DE SAINT-GEORGES: THE VIOLIN AND THE SWORD
A black French aristocrat, the greatest swordsman of his day, a celebrated violinist and composer, friend of Haydn, hero of the French Revolution, prisoner of the French Revolution – it sounds like fiction, but every word is true. The Chevalier de Saint-Georges was born in 1745 in the West Indies to a French planter and his young, African slave and mistress. At age 7, he was taken by his father to France. Louis XV made him a member of the royal bodyguard and a chevalier. An active abolitionist, and conductor of the best orchestra in France, he wrote symphonies, quartets, and concertos.