Author | Rita Dove |
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Publisher | W. W. Norton |
ISBN | 978-0393338935 |
Sonata Mulattica : A Life in Five Movements and a Short Play is a collection of poems by U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove, published in 2009, about the life of George Bridgetower.[1] Bridgetower was a biracial (Afro-Caribbean, Polish, German) musician who was friends with Beethoven.[2][3][4][5][6] Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata was originally dedicated to Bridgetower, and was originally entitled "Sonata mulattica composta per il mulatto Brischdauer [Bridgetower], gran pazzo e compositore mulattico" (Mulatto Sonata composed for the mulatto Brischdauer, big wild mulatto composer)[7]
Dove said that she relied on documents such as the diary of Charlotte Papendiek, lady-in-waiting to the wife of George III, and whose husband Christopher Papendiek was one of the king's court musicians and helped to arrange concerts for Bridgetower.[8] However, as not much information is available about Bridgetower's life, or details regarding the incident regarding the Sonata, Dove's work is mostly her own imagined version of events.[9]
The book consists of five "movements", each a group of poems about a particular theme,[10] as well as a short play.