Sonata Mulattica: a tale of Musical Prowess, Love, and Loss
George Polgreen Bridgetower, the son of a white woman and a flamboyant, self-proclaimed African prince, was born and lived as an outsider. He may have had a quick rise to fame as a child, but later in life, he had an even quicker fall. George’s story was like a message in a bottle lost at sea, until someone found it and turned it into a lyrical narrative capturing the life of a biracial prodigy violinist, who rose to fame, but ultimately threw away his shot with Beethoven, ruined his beautiful musical career, and thus was almost erased from history.
Right off the bat with the first passage, The Bridgetower, we get a brief, though confusing at first summary about the entirety of what we’re about to read, sprinkled with allusions, foreshadowing, and rhetoric. We learn that we’re back in 1783, in Ludwig von Beethoven’s time in Europe. There’s foreshadowing to the lead up of George and Beethoven’s falling out, allusions to some of today’s popular music, infamous names of old musicians and violinists (who, if the bright-skinned Papa’s boy hadn’t messed up with Beethoven, could have had his name next to in the history books), and basically that we’re in for a ride with this story. This passage is best read slowly and many times for one to understand and get a grasp of what it’s about and the rhetoric and rhyme and overall feel of the poems. Each passage ranges in tone from seemingly happy-go-lucky to serious, angsty, and just plain confusing. It works best if one thinks about this as a series of images or photographs in a photo album, snapshots captured in time; pull the moment out and see what the big picture about it is. Each is there for a particular reason, and is much better if you understand what it means and how it works for the narrative of the story, overall. All throughout the story, the tone is overall uneasy; this has to do with the obvious clash between the high class and lower class cast of characters. George’s father got him performances, but the people watching his performances didn’t treat George very good, and he felt anguish about this all throughout his childhood. He was the present day equivalent of a child star in Hollywood, quickly having to learn about the loss of innocence, childhood fame, and finally, decline. The slightly uneasy tone throughout seems to convey things perfectly, such as George’s first performance when it seems as though …show more content…
Papendiek’s diary, George’s anguish is revisited: “Once his father was gone, the poor child poured out his woes: that he was forced to squirrel himself away while his father ‘entertained’.” (Dove 77.) The pain poor George must felt from having to hide himself away during these parties must have been horrible. He was the one who performed with his violin, and yet his father took the credit and entertained the crowds that were there to see him, but who did not treat him very well, despite him being an amazing violin player. This had to do with the fact that he was biracial. But the point that he was isn’t predominated in this story, it’s just a subtle background piece of information, so the story can feel more humanized. And it does a good job of
George Polgreen Bridgetower, the son of a white woman and a flamboyant, self-proclaimed African prince, was born and lived as an outsider. He may have had a quick rise to fame as a child, but later in life, he had an even quicker fall. George’s story was like a message in a bottle lost at sea, until someone found it and turned it into a lyrical narrative capturing the life of a biracial prodigy violinist, who rose to fame, but ultimately threw away his shot with Beethoven, ruined his beautiful musical career, and thus was almost erased from history.
Right off the bat with the first passage, The Bridgetower, we get a brief, though confusing at first summary about the entirety of what we’re about to read, sprinkled with allusions, foreshadowing, and rhetoric. We learn that we’re back in 1783, in Ludwig von Beethoven’s time in Europe. There’s foreshadowing to the lead up of George and Beethoven’s falling out, allusions to some of today’s popular music, infamous names of old musicians and violinists (who, if the bright-skinned Papa’s boy hadn’t messed up with Beethoven, could have had his name next to in the history books), and basically that we’re in for a ride with this story. This passage is best read slowly and many times for one to understand and get a grasp of what it’s about and the rhetoric and rhyme and overall feel of the poems. Each passage ranges in tone from seemingly happy-go-lucky to serious, angsty, and just plain confusing. It works best if one thinks about this as a series of images or photographs in a photo album, snapshots captured in time; pull the moment out and see what the big picture about it is. Each is there for a particular reason, and is much better if you understand what it means and how it works for the narrative of the story, overall. All throughout the story, the tone is overall uneasy; this has to do with the obvious clash between the high class and lower class cast of characters. George’s father got him performances, but the people watching his performances didn’t treat George very good, and he felt anguish about this all throughout his childhood. He was the present day equivalent of a child star in Hollywood, quickly having to learn about the loss of innocence, childhood fame, and finally, decline. The slightly uneasy tone throughout seems to convey things perfectly, such as George’s first performance when it seems as though …show more content…
Papendiek’s diary, George’s anguish is revisited: “Once his father was gone, the poor child poured out his woes: that he was forced to squirrel himself away while his father ‘entertained’.” (Dove 77.) The pain poor George must felt from having to hide himself away during these parties must have been horrible. He was the one who performed with his violin, and yet his father took the credit and entertained the crowds that were there to see him, but who did not treat him very well, despite him being an amazing violin player. This had to do with the fact that he was biracial. But the point that he was isn’t predominated in this story, it’s just a subtle background piece of information, so the story can feel more humanized. And it does a good job of