George Bridgetower

George Bridgetower was the mulatto son of a Polish-German mother and an Afro-Caribbean father. He was considered a musical prodigy, playing the violin as early as 9 years old, and possibly meeting such big names as Joseph Haydn and even Thomas Jefferson. More importantly, he inspired Ludwig van Beethoven and helped shape the development of classical music. In 1803 in Vienna, Bridgetower and Beethoven performed "Sonata Mulattica" publicly for the first time.

Few of Bridgetower's work survives today, but he associated with the greats of his time: Giovanni Viotti, the violin virtuoso, and Samuel Wesley, the organist and composer.

Bridgetower's music career never panned out (for obvious reasons) and his story has been buried deep until Rita Dove's new book Sonata Mulattica: Poems.