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. Bridgetower was a biracial (Afro-Caribbean, Polish, German) musician who was friends with Beethoven. 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)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. 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.The book consists of five "movements", each a group of poems about a particular theme, as well as a short play. Source: Wikipedia (en)