A History of Black Classical Music

Original version

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A History of Black Classical Music: The Blacke Trumpeter

The Blacke Trumpeter

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Eleanor Alberga presents a timeline of black classical composition.

Composer Eleanor Alberga foregrounds the contribution black composers have made to the story of western classical music through the ages, beginning with the earliest references.

The first programme of a three-part series in which composer Eleanor Alberga foregrounds the contribution that black composers have made to the story of western classical music through the ages, with examples of their music. Eleanor confesses that "in researching this series, much of the story has proved surprising to me as well”.

Eleanor begins her journey with story of John Blanke, a celebrated court trumpeter to Henry VII, who appears as “the blacke trumpeter” on the Westminster Tournament Roll, commissioned by the king to mark the birth of his son Henry in 1511. The programme considers the presence and position of black people within the European population since that time. She features the music of black composers in England and France from the 18th century, including Ignatius Sancho, JJO de Meude-Monpas and Joseph Boulogne, before crossing the Atlantic to the Southern States of America, to New Orleans, and the music of the “Creole Romantics”; musicians like Lucien-Léon Guillaume Lambert and Edmond Dédé. This first programme ends with Eleanor considering the impact that Dvorak’s historic visit to America made to black composers in the 1890s.

Music featured in this first programme includes:

Ignatius Sancho: Minuet No 11 in G minor (arr. Janise White)
Afro-American Chamber Music Society Orchestra/Janise White

J.J.O. de Meude-Monpas: Violin Concerto No 4 in D - iii Rondo. 
Rachel Barton, violin
Encore Chamber Orchestra led by Daniel Hege, conductor.

Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George: Symphony in G, Op 11 No 1 - 1st Mvt 
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra/Jeanne Lamon

Charles Richard Lambert: “L’Amazone” - Caprice-Mazurka, Op 67
Gary Hammond (piano)

Edmond Dédé: “Mon pauvre couer”
Jennifer Foster(soprano) David Sachs (piano)

Edmond Dédé: “Mefisto Masque”
Hot Springs Music Festival Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Richard Rosenberg

José White Lafitte: Violin Concerto in F sharp minor -  iii. Allegro Moderato
Rachel Barton, violin
Encore Chamber Orchestra led by Daniel Hege, Conductor.

Harry Thacker Burleigh: “The Grey Wolf” 
Regina McConnell (soprano), Michael Cordovana (piano)

William Marion Cook: Overture - “In Dahomey” 
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra; Rick Benjamin, director

Nathaniel Dett- “In The Bottoms" - I. Prelude 
Denver Oldham (piano)

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Music: Classical

Eleanor Alberga with a timeline of black classical composition.

Composer Eleanor Alberga foregrounds the contribution that black composers have made to the story of Western classical music through the ages, with examples of their music.

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