MBC’s Complete Keyboard Works by Joseph Bologne is a groundbreaking publication that makes available for the first time the exemplary Classical-era solo piano repertoire by this composer of African descent. The project is a collaboration with piano pedagogues and editors, Eden Esters Brown and Dr. Douglas Jurs, following their discovery of the manuscript scores in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.
Commonly known as Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Bologne was an 18th-century composer who was born in 1745 on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe to an enslaved woman of Senegalese descent and a French sugar cane plantation owner. His father brought him to France when he was seven years old, and he grew up to be—among other things—one of the greatest fencers in the world, as well as a leading violinist, conductor, and composer in the Paris music scene.
This premier publication of Bologne’s works for solo keyboard includes nine multi-movement sonatas and six additional pieces. These works are presented in three volumes, and the repertoire is graded for student use from late-elementary to advanced level. Each volume includes a biography of Bologne, as well as pedagogical notes that detail the technical and musical challenges of each piece. In Volume 1, these notes also include recommended preparatory, complementary, and trajectory pieces for each work to aid teachers in seamlessly incorporating the music into an effective pedagogical sequence. All pianists will enjoy this important new addition to the repertoire from the early Classical era.
Volume 1 and Volume 2 were released in 2024, and Volume 3 was released in the summer of 2025.
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