Tomoko appreciates the multicultural aspects of classical music. Among those composers who are notable but sometimes not as well known are Black composers. Here are five notable ones.
Known as the Black Mozart, Creole Joseph Bologne was born on
Christmas Day, 1745, in Guadeloupe, and was schooled in France. Bologne was first
an expert fencer, but always had a love of music. He performed as an orchestra violinist,
and became its concert master. Joseph wrote several sonatas, including for the
forte-piano. He chiefly wrote operas and symphonies. Bologne, who lived next to
Mozart for a while, is considered the first-known classical composer of African
heritage.
George Bridgetower is most known for his violin virtuosity,
and as such, the original dedicatee of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata. He
was born on October 11, 1778 in Poland of a West Indian father and Polish
mother. He moved early to London, and performed publicly as a teen in England
and Paris. Most of his own compositions were piano pieces, but many were lost
over the years.
Another African British composer was Samuel Coleridge-Taylor,
called the African Mahler. Born on August 15, 1875, Samuel studied at the Royal
College of Music in London, and was a professor at the Crystal Palace School of
Music. Many of his works were choral pieces, the best known one was The Song
of Hiawatha. Samuel drew upon traditional African music in his compositions.
He also wrote poetry, which he would sometimes set to music.
Florence Price is known as the first African American woman recognized
as a symphonic composer. She also wrote for the piano – among her over 300
compositions. She was born in Arkansas on April 9, 1887. She performed publicly
on the piano at age four, and had her first composition published at age
eleven. Florence’s mother was a music teacher, and Florence attended the New
England Conservatory of Music where she earned an artist diploma in organ and a
teaching certificate. Florence played an importance role in the Chicago Black
Renaissance, making her name first with her piano work Negro Fantasy.
She wrote prize-winning piano sonatas and symphonies, and arranged spirituals,
which Marian Anderson regularly performed.
George Walker was first African American to win the Pulitzer
Prize for Music – for his piece Lilacs. Born on June 27, 1922, he began
playing the piano at age five. He earned his doctorate at the Eastman School of
Music and taught at Rutgers University. He published more than ninety works,
including five sonatas for piano, duet sonatas for piano and another
instrument, as well as choral works and songs.
These accomplished composers of African descent certainly should
be noted and listened to.
