The Bridgetower Sonata

In this vividly imagined historical novel set in 18th and 19th Century Europe, and based on actual events, Emmanuel Dongala limns the life of George Bridgetower, the young mixed-race violin prodigy who took the classical music world by storm. Part Black from his Barbadan father and part-White from his Polish mother who served as a handmaiden in the Hungarian court, George Bridgetower first mesmerized the world at the cusp of the French Revolution, and went on to become of England's Prince of Wales before arriving in Vienna where he became the protege of Ludwig Van Beethoven with whom he composed and performed a brilliant duet for piano and violin that the maestro dubbed the Sonata Mulattica--but later retracted the name and retitled it the "Kreutzer Sonata" in a fit of rage after a falling-out with the young George.