In 1776 the "Académie royale de musique", the Paris Opéra, was struggling financially and artistically. Saint-Georges was proposed as the next director of the opera. As creator of the first disciplined French orchestra since Lully, he was the obvious choice. But, according to Baron von Grimm's "Correspondance litteraire, philosophique et critique", three of the Opéra's leading ladies "... presented a "placet" (petition) to the Queen Antoinette assuring Her Majesty that their honor and delicate conscience could never allow them to submit to the orders of a mulatto."