Lusitano's Moment Has Come
June 17, 2022 8:51 AM   Subscribe

"The Western classical music canon is notoriously white and male – so you might assume that a black Renaissance composer would be a figure of significant interest, much-performed and studied. In fact, the story of the first known published black composer – Vicente Lusitano – is only now being heard, alongside a revival of interest in his long-neglected choral music." from The great 16th-Century black composer erased from history [BBC] posted by chavenet (5 comments total) 36 users marked this as a favorite
 
Sheet music (modern typesetting) on IMSLP.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 10:10 AM on June 17, 2022 [2 favorites]


Ooo, those ascending lines in "Heu me Domine", especially the first.
posted by Quasirandom at 2:11 PM on June 17, 2022 [2 favorites]


Listening to invioleta - amazing technicality on the composition and such a beautiful execution by the Marian Consort
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 6:04 PM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


I'd be interesting to know whether he would have been an influence on the Gabriellis (Andrea and Giovanni) -- they're associated with Venice, but I think they both spent time in today's Germany. Or perhaps something less savory, as it seems Vicentino was from the Venetian school as well.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:37 PM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


I've recently become aware of composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor* (1875-1912) who was born in London to a white mother and a father from Sierra Leone and who appears black in photographs. I listen to classical music radio a fair amount and I hear music by him about once a week, so he must be considered a significant composer now.

*He is named after the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834).
posted by neuron at 9:21 AM on June 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


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